Being widely regarded as the most gifted for 40 years, England won't let you down this time, as I last said, they will prove to be an elite after group stage. This will be shown in their match against Ecuador, I predict they will crush the new-comer with a 2-1 victory.

Starting sluggishly, England won its first two group games against Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago then tied Sweden to lead the Group B. They lost their key striker Michael Owen, but he was not in form and was ineffective in the early two games. Losing him might be a blessing in disguise. Rooney's back to the lineup will sharpen their offense and allow Eriksson to adopt the 4-5-1 formation which would allow the two EPL superstar Lampard and Gerrard to both play attacking roles, but the precondition is that they could really work as a coherent unit. Ecuador is not a problem for England. They will encounter their first real challenge with either Portugal, which dumped them from Euro 2004, or the Netherlands in the quarterfinal.

As for Ecuador, they stunned Poland 2-0 and then thrash Costa Rica 3-0. While blew by the hosts with a 0-3 defeat, they rested their star strikers and captain and remained fresh and confident for the showdown with England. Lacking experiences is the case against them and will eventually be the fatal factor there. They will have to ride home after this game.

By Zhenyu Li, sports writer for PD Online. The article represents the writer's views only