Opening group loss would not signpost an early exit

Who needs "Britain's Got Talent", "The X Factor", or "Over the Rainbow", when you have got a football match of such magnitude in the Saturday night TV talent slot?

Forget all the hype, the love triangles that split the dressing room, and the loss of Ferdinand and Beckham, it is finally time to sit down (or stand up) and watch the action. Millions up and down the country will be glued to their screens tonight as Fabio Capello's men seek to end 44 years of hurt.

Watching England is never good for the heart but, surely, tonight, there will be no slip-ups against the USA? Why, they don't even refer to it as 'football' over there.

According to bookmakers, England are fourth favourites to lift the trophy while the Yanks are 66-1 outsiders. Logically, there can only really be one winner tonight. But stranger things have happened.

Let us not forget the events of 1950 when the two countries met for the only previous occasion in a World Cup finals and the USA won 1-0. Or the friendly defeat in Boston during the ill-fated reign of Graham Taylor.

Winning today would give England the ideal springboard for a successful tournament – but would defeat signal the end of another dream?

Possibly not as the history books testify.

England have been involved in 12 previous World Cup tournaments and have lost only two of their opening fixtures.

Yet neither setback, against Hungary in 1962 and Portugal in 1986, prevented England progressing to the next round.

The most recent occurred in Mexico when a side led by Bobby Robson lost 1-0 thanks to a goal from Carlos Manuel Santos.When England struggled to a goalless draw against Morocco, five days later, an early flight home looked inevitable.

National pride was restored as Gary Lineker scored a hat-trick to secure a 3-0 victory in the final group game against Poland.

Lineker scored twice again in the next round as England breezed past Paraguay and set up a quarter-final showdown with Argentina.

Diego Maradona scored the controversial 'Hand of God' goal which meant England missed out on the semi-finals but a header from Lineker in the 2-1 defeat enabled the striker to win the Golden Boot.

While memories of Mexico are still fresh in the mind of many, only the older generations recall events of 1962 in Chile.

Sheffield Wednesday goalkeeper Ron Springett and Huddersfield Town defender Ray Wilson both played in the England side who lost their opening game 2-1 to the 'Mighty Magyars' of Hungary. With 30 minutes to play, England – trailing to an early goal from Lajos Tichy – drew level thanks to a penalty from Doncaster-born Ron Flowers.

However, it took the Hungarians less than a minute to regain the lead courtesy of Florian Albert. Walter Winterbottom's men bounced back with an impressive 3-1 victory over Argentina. A goalless draw against Bulgaria in the final group game booked a quarter-final date with Brazil. However, the holders would prove far too strong.

England have never won an opening game in a European Championship even when the tournament was held on home soil in 1996.

A late equaliser from Kubilay Turkyilmaz wiped out Alan Shearer's opener and England had to settle for a 1-1 draw against Switzerland at Wembley.

In both 2000 and 2004, England lost opening group games to Portugal and France respectively. Qualification was not even achieved in 2008.

But this summer, we are not talking about Europe so those statistics are irrelevant. We are talking about ruling the world.

So have faith in Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard and Co and, remember, the Americans are more worried about us than we are of them.

By 9.30pm tonight, we will all know the result of the first game but not our final destiny.

If we win, celebrate but not too hard. If we lose, don't put away the flags just yet.

England's opening game record

n 2006 v Paraguay W 1-0

Finished: Quarter-finals

n 2002 v Sweden D 1-1 Finished: Quarter-finals

n 1998 v Tunisia W 2-0

Finished: Round Two

n 1990 v Rep of Ireland D 1-1 Finished: Semi-finals

n 1986 v Portugal L 1-0

Finished: Quarter-finals

n 1982 v France W 3-1

Finished: Round Two

n 1970 v Romania W 1-0

Finished: Quarter-finals

n 1966 v Uruguay D 0-0 Finished: Champions

n 1962 v Hungary L 2-1

Finished: Quarter-finals

n 1958 v USSR D 2-2

Finished: Round one

n 1954 v Belgium D 4-4

Finished: Quarter-finals

n 1950 v Chile W 2-0

Finished: Round one