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England hoping to play it cool in Nuremberg

By Trevor Huggins
June 15, 2006 17:38 IST
A combustible England will look to the weather for help when they face World Cup Group B rivals Trinidad & Tobago on Thursday.

Elsewhere, Sweden take on Paraguay in the same section in Berlin while Ecuador face Costa Rica in a Group A encounter in Hamburg.

A German heatwave played havoc with England's opening game last Saturday when they sweated to an unconvincing 1-0 win over Paraguay.

Temperatures which hit 29 degrees Celsius in Frankfurt, robbing Sven-Goran Eriksson's men of energy in a poor second half, may not be much kinder in Nuremberg despite the later kickoff of 1600 GMT.

Forecasts of a drop in temperatures have been put on hold, with an expected cooler front stalling.

"People have talked about cooler weather and rain for two or three days now. I don't know when it's coming," an anxious Eriksson told a news conference on Wednesday.

"They (Trinidad) are probably more used to the heat than we are, though many of their players play in England.

"It was hot on Saturday and I hope it will be less hot at six o'clock (local time). But you have to live with it and cope with it."

Eriksson's hopes of cooler weather reflect the stakes at the Franken-Stadion where a victory would put England in the second round.

A convincing win might even tempt Eriksson to send on striker Wayne Rooney for the closing stages, less than seven weeks after he broke his foot on Manchester United duty.

PERFECT EVENING

A perfect evening for Eriksson would be to then sit back to watch Paraguay and his native country play out a draw in their 1900 GMT kickoff, ensuring England top the group with a game to spare.

Trinidad coach Leo Beenhakker will try to end a personal run of draws in the competition.

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The Dutchman has been in charge of four matches in World Cup finals, three with Netherlands in 1990 and one with Trinidad in this tournament. All have ended in stalemate.

Goalkeeper Shaka Hislop was in inspired form when his Trinidad team held Sweden to a goalless draw last Saturday.

Sweden will probably get fewer chances against Paraguay, who are a skilful side and have the dangerous Nelson Haedo Valdez in attack.

Ecuador, 2-0 winners over Poland last Friday, will attempt to sweep Costa Rica aside and join hosts Germany at the top of Group A.

On Wednesday, Germany beat Poland with an injury-time goal from Oliver Neuville. In Group H, two-goal David Villa led Spain to a 4-0 rout of 10-man Ukraine while Tunisia and Saudi Arabia shared a 2-2 draw.

Trevor Huggins
Source: REUTERS
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