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With Rooney Out England Sweden Match Proves Significant

The two World Cup favorites in Group B, England and Sweden, hope to secure a ticket for the second stage before running into each other during the first stage of the tournament. Both teams will face Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago before their face-to-face match on June 20. Still, their match in Cologne could be very important, because one of the two might end up playing host Germany in the second round.

England had been expected to qualify easily for the second round, but an injury to striker Wayne Rooney has raised some doubts. The 20-year-old Manchester United forward broke his right foot in late April and could miss the entire World Cup. His absence also should improve the chances of Paraguay and Trinidad. Paraguay made it to the World Cup for the third time in a row and reached the second round in the last two, losing to eventual champion France in 1998 and to finalist Germany in 2002.

The South Americans meet England in Frankfurt on June 10 with hopes that Bayern Munich striker Roque Santa Cruz will be fully fit. The forward returned to action in April after being sidelined for five months with torn ligaments in his right knee. Before Rooney`s injury, Paraguay coach Anibal Ruiz might have feared another one-sided loss to England, which beat Paraguay 3-0 at the 1986 World Cup and 4-0 in a friendly four years ago.