A resurgent Wayne Rooney will spearhead England's hopes against Bulgaria on Friday as Fabio Capello's men aim to edge closer to automatic qualification for Euro 2012.
Rooney's scintillating early season displays for Manchester United have been in stark contrast to the same time a year ago, when his form slumped amid revelations over his private life and a rift with Sir Alex Ferguson.
Capello will hope that Rooney's hat-trick in last Sunday's 8-2 demolition of Arsenal is only a taste of things to come from the 25-year-old as England prepare for back-to-back qualifiers against Bulgaria and Wales.
Six points from those two matches and England will be well placed to progress automatically from Group G, which they currently lead on goal difference from second-placed Montenegro.
But a stuttering draw against Switzerland at Wembley in June, which followed a dismal home stalemate with Montenegro last year, has left England with precious little margin for error.
Capello and England are acutely aware that more dropped points in Sofia on Friday or against the Welsh at Wembley next week could leave them with the unwanted scenario of needing a win in Montenegro in their final game on October 7.
Rooney, however, is confident that England can shape their own destiny in Group G, starting at the sweltering Vasil Levski Stadium on Friday night.
"Us as players expect us to win, and hope we can win. Going away at international level is not easy. It is always difficult," Rooney said.
"But we are confident we can win but it will be tricky. We have been to teams who aren?t as good as Bulgaria and it has been a difficult game. We can?t take them lightly that?s for sure."
Rooney is also enthused by the emergence of a fresh crop of faces in the England set-up, namely his Manchester United team-mates Phil Jones, Tom Cleverley and Chris Smalling.
Seven years after Rooney lit up Euro 2004 as a teenager, the Scouse striker believes England may well have discovered the nucleus of a team capable of challenging at major tournaments.
"In tournaments, apart from the first tournament, the others have ended in disappointment for England and me personally," Rooney said.
"It?s something I want to put right and with the young players coming in the team I?m confident we can be successful. Over the next 10 years we could have the chance to be successful and hopefully I can be part of that."
Bulgaria meanwhile are aiming to continue their rebuilding under German legend Lothar Matthaus, who took over as coach following the east Europeans' disastrous start to the qualifiers last year which featured back-to-back defeats to England (4-0 at Wembley) and Montenegro (1-0 at home).
Since then Bulgaria have ground out an away win over Wales in Cardiff as well as taking a point apiece from Switzerland and Montenegro.
Six points adrift of both England and Montenegro, Bulgaria's hopes of qualification remain highly unlikely.
Yet Matthaus - who has failed to replicate his glorious playing career as a coach - believes he has detected a vulnerability in England that makes an upset on Friday possible.
"They are ranked fourth in the world and we are the underdogs. There is no question about that but we want to make it as difficult as possible for them," Matthaus told The Guardian this week.
"All the pressure will be on them to win. They need to stay ahead of Montenegro, who are in hot pursuit in the group, and they need to get the maximum points before the key match (in Podgorica).
"For us, beating them would be a dream.
"We will give it a go in front of our supporters and try to give them a hard time. I am determined to keep fighting as long as a mathematical chance to qualify for Euro 2012 remains.
"It's important to believe."
Source: AFP
