England hoping to avoid Dutch date

ENGLAND will go into the hat for tonight’s World Cup draw regarded as leading contenders to win the tournament but with head coach Sven-Goran Eriksson hoping to avoid Holland.

Legends of the game have been queuing up to nominate a Wayne Rooney-inspired England as among the favourites for next summer’s finals in Germany.

England have also been ranked as second behind Brazil under FIFA’s seeding system, meaning they will avoid the seven other leading countries in the group stage.