Sven-Goran Eriksson announced five months ago that he would quit as England coach after the World Cup and, with the team into the second round, every match now could be his last.
He doesn't expect it to be Sunday's second-round match against Ecuador.
"No, and I never thought that tomorrow would be my last game, absolutely not," Eriksson said in a statement on June 24,2006. "I never dreamed about it."
In theory, England should easily overcome a country 20 places below it in FIFA's world rankings and with only two players in Europe's top leagues.
But high temperatures are again forecast and England struggled in the heat in its World Cup opener against Paraguay. Also, it has been eliminated by South American teams in three of its last four World Cups _ Brazil in 2002 and Argentina in 1998 and 1986. Captain David Beckham isn't thinking about excuses. "We've gone out of competitions where we should have gone further in the past," England captain David Beckham said. "There have been certain excuses and things said by players and it's literally up to us now. We're the ones who can progress as a team and we can talk about the positive stuff said about us and the fans, but what the team do on the pitch is the major thing." And it's likely to be a new-look team.
England had a closed training session with Wayne Rooney as a sole striker, meaning Peter Crouch would be a substitute even though he scored one of England's five goals in the group stage. Rooney has only recently recovered from a broken foot sustained April 29 and has not completed a full game since. Eriksson also had Michael Carrick, who has yet to play at the tournament, replacing Owen Hargreaves as a holding midfielder. Hargreaves switched to right-back instead of Jamie Carragher, who filled that role in the past two matches.
{{/usCountry}}England had a closed training session with Wayne Rooney as a sole striker, meaning Peter Crouch would be a substitute even though he scored one of England's five goals in the group stage. Rooney has only recently recovered from a broken foot sustained April 29 and has not completed a full game since. Eriksson also had Michael Carrick, who has yet to play at the tournament, replacing Owen Hargreaves as a holding midfielder. Hargreaves switched to right-back instead of Jamie Carragher, who filled that role in the past two matches.
{{/usCountry}}Hargreaves made his first start in two years in Tuesday's 2-2 draw with Sweden. Rio Ferdinand trained Saturday and should recover from a groin strain to start.
Crouch is England's only other experienced striker because Michael Owen was sent home Wednesday with a serious knee injury. England also has 17-year-old Theo Walcott, who is yet to play a minute in Germany.
On Sunday, Eriksson will field his fourth different team at this World Cup and denied that he was taking risks because he'll soon be gone.
"I said before this World Cup that we have more options this time than we did four years ago," Eriksson said. "We have a lot of players in the squad who could have easily play in the first 11, much more than four years ago and even two years ago." Sunday's match in Stuttgart will be the first time Ecuador has played a final 16 match at the World Cup.
Seven of Ecuador's eight qualifying wins came more than 2,700 meters (9,000 feet) feet above sea level at their home stadium in Quito. But it's proved it can win anywhere, beating Poland 2-0 and Costa Rica 3-0 in Group A before a weakened lineup lost 3-0 to Germany.
Ecuador is prepared for all scenarios against England, which has a poor record in the penalty shootouts that determine who advances if the score is tied after regulation and extra time. England has exited in three of its last five tournaments by shootout _ the 1996 European Championship semifinal to Germany, the 1998 World Cup round of 16 to Argentina, and the 2004 European Championship quarterfinal to Portugal.
"We getting ready and planning the game in three different ways _ one game of 90 minutes, one of 120 and one to be decided by penalty kicks," Ecuador assistant coach Armando Osma said.