England striker Peter Crouch is set to start against Paraguay next week following his hat-trick against Jamaica in Saturday's friendly at Old Trafford.
Crouch's treble guided England to a 6-0 victory in their last warm-up game
before the World Cup, with the Liverpool striker's performance earning him a
place in the starting XI next week.
'I think Peter Crouch will start next Saturday,' said England boss
Sven-Goran Eriksson on BBC Interactive. 'I think he deserves it.'
Crouch's first goal at Old Trafford came via a deflection off Omar Daley, his
second was a tap-in and the third was a neat side-footed finish. The 25-year-old
also missed a penalty.
Frank Lampard, an own goal from Jermaine Taylor and Michael Owen provided the
other goals, with Eriksson adding: 'It was good, there were a lot of positive
things.
'Jamaica maybe aren't the best team in the world but six goals and a clean
sheet - you should be happy.
'I think it was a good game and I hope the fans liked it - I'm sure they
did.'
John Terry and Ashley Cole were taken off during the victory, but Eriksson is
not concerned with their fitness for the finals in Germany.
'There was a small problem with Terry and Ashley Cole,' he added. 'Ashley
will probably have a scan today but we don't think it is a big problem.'
Gary Neville missed the friendly with a hamstring injury, and Eriksson added:
'On Monday he starts full training and hopefully everything is okay.'
Eriksson declared on Sky Sports News that Owen's performance had been
encouraging.
Owen played his first full 90 minutes of the year, and although he drifted out
of the game for a while in the second half, he came on strong towards the end,
laying off the ball for Crouch's hat-trick strike.
'We got 90 minutes out of him and I think he played much better today than
the last time he played,' said Eriksson.
'That was maybe the answer I wanted. I wanted to see him going into tackles,
holding the ball up and doing some sprints, and that's good news.'
Hat-trick hero Crouch is beginning to feel at home in the England set-up, a
year into his international career.
'Thankfully I've managed to get hat-trick and it's a really good win,' said
the former Southampton striker. 'I've really enjoyed the whole time I've been away with England. You just
hope you can do your best and I've managed to get a few goals as well.
'It looked like a proper team out there and going to the World Cup, that's a
big plus.'
He and Owen did not always hold the ball up as well as they would have liked,
but their goals made up for any shortcomings, and Crouch believes the
partnership is fulfilling its promise.
'Any time I've played with Michael I've enjoyed it,' he said on Sky Sports
News. 'He's a great player and it's a pleasure to play up there with him.
'I don't know what the manager is thinking but hopefully we can play up there
together (against Paraguay).'
Crouch denied it would be difficult to make the transition from playing
friendly games to contesting World Cup matches.
'It should be easy,' he said. 'We've got enough experienced players in the
squad. I know it's going to be a difficult tournament but it's one we can do
well in.
'We're going into it full of confidence, which can only be a good thing. We
can look around the whole squad and we're all playing well. 'We can't wait to get out there. It's come around now and we're all looking forward to it.'
