Star player:
Wayne Rooney

Previous appearances:
1950 (first round), 1954 (quarter-finals), 1958 (first round), 1962 (quarter-finals), 1966 (winners), 1970 (quarter-finals), 1982 (second round), 1986 (quarter-finals), 1990 (semi-finals), 1998 (second round), 2002 (quarter-finals), 2006 (quarter-finals).

How they qualified
UEFA
Andorra (a)          2-0
Croatia (a)            4-1
Kazakhstan (h)      5-1
Belarus (a)            3-1
Ukraine (h)           2-1
Kazakhstan (a)      4-0
Andorra (h)          6-0
Croatia (h)            5-1
Ukraine (a)           0-1
Belarus (h)           3-0

Chances:
Stormed through qualification under Capello, whose winning pedigree in club football suggests a more ruthless and focused England are a good bet for at least a semi-final place. An easy draw threw up a straight-forward group but in the first knockout stage a showdown with Germany, Australia, Ghana or Serbia beckons.

Strange but true
After England won the Jules Rimet Trophy in 1966 it was put on display in London and then stolen. It was found days later by a dog named Pickles. For years later Brazil were presented with that trophy for good, but it was stolen again in 1983 and never recovered.