WHEN Rio Ferdinand was axed by England for two final World Cup qualifiers earlier this season he feared his World Cup dream had been shattered.
Now, after forcing himself back into the reckoning, he senses from Sven-Goran Eriksson that not only will he be starting games in the Germany finals but he will be making sure they win them all.
Such is the confidence of Eriksson and his coaching staff that success can be achieved over the course of the next month, the players are firmly convinced there are no better teams around.
Ferdinand, back to being a regular having been dropped after the embarrassing defeat to Northern Ireland last September, expects to reach the latter stages of the competition.
"Sven is more relaxed going into this tournament, but confident as well," said Ferdinand, also reflecting on the fact that this is the last few weeks of the Swede's reign.
"He is confident in the squad he has, you can tell by the way he handles the media and how he is with us.
"The only way to go into a tournament is to believe you can win it. Four years ago we came up against Brazil and maybe we thought, 'wow, this is the World Cup and we're playing Brazil.'
"This time we will go into every game, no matter who the opponents are, believing we can win.
"It's not about looking at people and feeling inferior. We know that whatever 11 players are on the pitch, we can feel confident.
"The spirit in the squad is fantastic, everyone is having a laugh, but when there is serious business to be done, we work hard."
Saturday's crushing 6-0 triumph over Jamaica may have been expected but, regardless of the opposition, a clean sheet was an appropriate confidence builder ahead of the opening Group B game with Paraguay on Saturday.
Even when John Terry had to be withdrawn for precautionary measures in the first half, and Sol Campbell was introduced, England looked solid, albeit against poor quality opposition.
"The defence is looking good," said Ferdinand. "The more games you play together the more you know each other's games and that has definitely been the case with me and John Terry.
"We're seeing the benefits of the fact we've played a few games alongside each other. He doesn't really talk anymore than other people I've played with, he just lets you know when you've done something well, or when you've done something badly.
"If you look at our side there are a lot of natural leaders out there. You have to be able to lead by example, not just talk and John is like that. There are others like that, Frank [Lampard], Michael [Owen], David [Beckham]."
This will be the first major tournament - after appearances in 1998 and 2002 - that Campbell has travelled to and not been a regular fixture at the heart of defence.
After overcoming problems in his personal life this season, he is relieved to be a part this time around and accepts he is no longer an automatic choice.
"I've played a few games since I came back into the Arsenal side and I'm feeling sharper, the sort of sharpness that you can only get from playing in games. I've got to be sharp and ready to come into the side if that is what happens," said Campbell.
"We've got a great mix of players, young and old. There are a lot of different age groups in the squad and we have tremendous team spirit.
All we need is for things to go our way, the crucial decisions and so on.
"I was happy enough with how it went for me on Saturday. It's always difficult when you come on as a substitute, but it's another game under my belt.
"I'm going to be a squad player at the World Cup, I realise that. I'm going to be on the bench, but I'm part of the squad and part of that role is to support the 11 players who are in the starting line up."
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