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England's first World Cup 2006 game is against Paraguay on 10 June 2006 at Frankfurt, Germany at 2.00pm (BST - British Summer Time). Click here to see the World Cup screen chart and click here to see where England's games will be held on a map.

England have a lot of confidence coming into this match after winning their last six games against Austria, Poland, Argentina, Uruguay, Hungary and Jamaica. See all England's results since Euro96 here.

England's main injury concern is Wayne Rooney but positive results from scan on 7 June 2006 give him a chance of playing even in the group stages - Michael Owen and Peter Crouch are likely to be England's two England strikers against Paraguay.

Paraguay have got an injury concern themselves as their top striker, Roque Santa Cruz (Bayern Munich) has been suffering from knee problems since October 2005 and is just recovering from tendonitis. He is now back in training and is may play against England as he said he should be fully fit by then. Santa Cruz then suffered a setback on Wednesday 7 June when he pulled out of training with pain in his right knee but was back in training the next day.

Nelson Valdez (Borussia Dortmund) will almost certainly play up front for Paraguay but striker Jose Cardozo has had to withdraw from the squad with a calf injury (picked up against Denmark). Their captain is the experienced central defender Carlos Gamarra and Carlos Parades is a very good midfield player.

Paraguay's last match was a 1-0 win against Georgia on 31 May 2006 - Nelson Valdez got the goal that gave Paraguay their first win in five matches. Valdez could have scored a couple more times in the first half too but Georgia had the better of the second half with several chances to equalise.

Paraguay previously drew with Denmark 1-1 on 27 May 2006 with a goal from Cardozo. They also drew 2-2 with Norway three days earlier with goals from Gamarra and Valdez.
 

                                                             

Sven Goran Eriksson is expected to keep the same 4-4-2 formation he used in England's last match against Jamaica when they won 6-0.

The England starting line up for the match is likely to be:

 
                                                       Paul Robinson
 
  Gary Neville                       John Terry                 Rio Ferdinand                     Ashley Cole

  David Beckham                 Frank Lampard          Steven Gerrard                Joe Cole

                                            Michael Owen             Peter Crouch

 

England's last result against Paraguay was a 4-0 win in 2002 but Paraguay did beat Argentina 1-0 at home and drew with Brazil 0-0 at home during their World Cup 2006 Qualification campaign. Paraguay eventually came fourth in that South American group behind Brazil, Argentina and Ecuador.

 

The last time England faced Paraguay in a World Cup was the World Cup 1986 - England won 3-0 to go through to the quarter finals. At this time, Bobby Robson was in charge of the England team and the goalkeeper Peter Shilton was the captain, having taken over from Bryan Robson, who was injured earlier in the competition.

The England team against Paraguay that day was Peter Shilton, Gary M Stevens, Kevin Sansom, Alvin Martin, Terry Butcher,  Glen Hoddle, Steve Hodge, Peter Reid (sub Gary A Stevens), Trevor Steven, Peter Beardsley (sub Mark Hateley), Gary Lineker 

Gary Lineker had come back to form with a hatrick in his previous game against Poland and got his first goal against Paraguay after 32 minutes to go in at half time 1-0 up. Fellow striker Peter Beardsley then made in 2-0 after 55 minutes before Gary Lineker effectively finished off the match with his second goal in the 72nd minute.

Please click here to see the full England squad and click here for the latest on Wayne Rooney's injury.