WITH all the doom and gloom about you could have been forgiven for thinking that England had already been knocked out of the 2006 World Cup.

The injury to Wayne Rooney has led to the bookies changing our odds of winning from 7-1 to 10-1, and the harbingers of doom have been quick to write us off.

It's time to get a sense of perspective here. Wayne Rooney is an extremely gifted footballer who may go on to rank amongst the very best the world has ever seen. But, at present, he is a 20-year-old still learning his trade and if our entire hopes really rested on his shoulders, then we were asking too much of the lad anyway.

I cannot help comparing the situation with that glorious summer 40 years ago.

Jimmy Greaves, the most gifted English player of the time, was injured in the group phase of the 1966 World Cup and Geoff Hurst was brought into the team. At the time, there were many who regarded the loss of Greaves as a serious blow to our chances but, of course, Geoff scored in the quarter final against Argentina and went on the bag the most famous hat-trick in football history in the final.

We still have world class players in Michael Owen, David Beckham and Stephen Gerrard, and I'm sure whoever takes Rooney's place in team will be chomping at the bit to prove the doubters wrong.

The 1966 tournament is regarded as the first to enter the modern communications age, to begin to tap into the commercial possibilities of football.

The first ever mascot, in the form of the lion World Cup Willie, was unveiled and, in another coincidence, this year's tournament in Germany also has a lion as a mascot - though his name is Goleo.

The 1966 World Cup attracted 71 entries with 16 teams reaching the final stages. I'll never forget watching North Korea beat Italy at Ayresome Park.

Football has become a multi-million pound industry now and there can be little doubt that the wall-to-wall coverage can reduce the anticipation and allure of certain games. But the fouryear gap between finals ensures the World Cup still maintains its magic and, apart from the Olympics and man landing on the moon, I cannot think of another live event that has attracted such global attention.

The numbers are mind-boggling.

For the latest tournament, 197 countries entered with 32 making it to the final stages and the final itself is aiming to beat the record-breaking TV audience of 1.5bn viewers for the 2002 final.

Of course there will be concerns about the hype, the corporate makeover, ticket touts and injuries. But in the end, it is the glorious uncertainty of what will happen during the 90 minutes of play that makes World Cup football so riveting.

If Wayne does make it, fantastic.

Even on the bench he will have opposition managers nervously wondering how they can counter him. But if he doesn't, it's not the end of the World Cup. Better he makes a full recovery than rushes back unfit and ends his career.

And as history has taught us, if you give someone a chance, they might just seize the moment.