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When Wayne Rooney went down clutching his broken toe, the young England striker thought his World Cup was over. Most England fans felt the same.

Now he's back and England are praying he does the business against Portugal. Before the tournament he talked to U.K. football magazine Four Four Two about playing on the biggest stage of all.

The interview is reprinted with their permission.

What's the first World Cup you recall?

The 1998 World Cup in France when Michael Owen scored that goal against Argentina. He'd just come through for Liverpool and it was his first tournament, but he was brilliant and I loved that goal. After I'd watched every England game on television I went out into the streets with my mates and pretended to be Michael Owen.

That was some goal, I wanted to copy it, especially when you consider how young he was.

Which players do you think will emerge as the stars of this World Cup?

For me, Ronaldinho is the world's best player and I think he will be his normal self at the World Cup. I like the look of Lionel Messi from Argentina too — it's difficult to believe he's only 18. I've watched him a lot this season and he's been brilliant. He's strong, has good balance and a great awareness too. I like watching those guys in the Spanish league, playing alongside Eto'o and Deco.

Sven said there was no Plan B for England if you got injured. Does that put extra pressure on you?

No, I don't think so. With or without me, we have good enough players in the squad to do a job for us.

A lot of people seem to forget that we only got knocked out on penalties in Portugal. When I went off injured, Darius [Vassell] came on and did a very good job. With a bit of luck we could have beaten Portugal and got through to the semi-finals.

Four years ago, no one in England had heard of you. What are your memories of watching the World Cup in Japan and South Korea?

I had to get up early to watch the games in my house with all those early kick-offs, luckily I didn't sleep through any of them. With the later ones I went to the pub to watch with my mates and our families. There was a great atmosphere around the country during the tournament. Everyone expected us to do well in that World Cup, but we were beaten by Brazil, and were probably unlucky in the end.

Did you watch that tournament believing you would be an England star two years later?

Not really. Back then my only hope was to get a place in the Everton team and to get a good run of games for them. It all happened a lot quicker than I ever expected it would.

Why do you think England can win this World Cup? What are the specific strengths of this squad?

I feel that there's a lot of energy among the players, around the training ground and on the pitch. A lot of young players have come into the squad and there's a lot of experience as well. We can defend well and hit teams on the break, and then in other games we can take the game to teams and attack them.

What do you think the celebrations back home would be like if England actually win the World Cup?

I'm sure it will be wild! After the Rugby World Cup, the celebrations were brilliant and I'm sure after the football one, if we do win it, it would be even bigger. It would be massive.



Which other nations do you think have a chance of lifting the trophy?

Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, and Argentina. I wouldn't be surprised if any of these teams win it. Everyone needs a bit of luck too. I'd say Brazil are the biggest danger to everyone. It will be difficult to beat them.

What do you admire most about the current Brazil side?

They have so many attacking players it's scary sometimes, and probably the only downside is they have too many of them and have a problem fitting them all in. I think to beat Brazil, you have to attack them, just attack their defence. That's the only way.

So would your ideal scenario be to beat Brazil in final?

Yeah, I'd love to beat them in the final, but it will be tough. Beating Brazil in the final would make winning the World Cup just that bit sweeter.

Four Four Two is the World's market leading football magazine. Visit thier World Cup microsite at FourFourTwo.com.[[In-content Ad]]

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