England ready to finish mission impossible

England take on Greece at Old Trafford on Saturday hoping to achieve what less than a year ago seemed virtually impossible - automatic qualification for the 2002 World Cup finals.

Victory over a side which has lost five of its seven qualifiers would book England's trip to Japan and South Korea as group nine winners, sending arch rivals Germany into next month's play-offs.

It is a prospect that few would have believed possible after England lost 1-0 to Germany in the final match to be played at Wembley stadium last October, and then drew 0-0 in Finland.

The key to the transformation has been the arrival of Sven Goran Eriksson as manager in place of Kevin Keegan.

His faith in a talented but relatively young squad has been repaid with five consecutive victories, including last month's staggering 5-1 win over Germany in Munich, and top place in the group on goal difference.

On Saturday, England aim to complete the job, albeit with some notable absentees.

The loss of goalkeeper David Seaman to an inflamed shoulder followed the withdrawals of central defender Sol Campbell and, more importantly, hamstrung striker Michael Owen.

CAPTAIN'S FAITH

With four goals in the last two qualifiers, Owen will be particularly missed. Manchester United's David Beckham, however, has a captain's faith in his squad.

"The way Michael's been playing it's upsetting not just for Michael but also for the team and for the fans," Beckham said. "He's been on fire and obviously he will be missed.

"But you've got to overcome these sort of things as a great team. The French team do it, when they've got players out, they've got players that can come in and perform. That's what we've got to do -- and we've got the squad to do that.

"The players that will come in are top-class and they definitely won't let anyone down."

Leeds United's Nigel Martyn should be between the posts, while Campbell's place alongside Rio Ferdinand will go to Arsenal team mate Martin Keown.

In midfield, Beckham, United colleague Paul Scholes and Liverpool's Steven Gerrard are certain to start. The question mark, as ever, is the left side of the pitch.

Nick Barmby is the favourite, but he could make way for Emile Heskey should his Liverpool team mate be withdrawn from his normal striking role.

Up front, Robbie Fowler should make the starting line-up after scoring England's decisive second goal against Albania last month.

Andy Cole's form has improved recently at Manchester United, but his poor strike record for England -- one goal in his 14 games -- is likely to weigh against him, while Teddy Sheringham is an ideal second-half substitute rather than a starter.

NOTHING TO LOSE

Greece have arrived in Manchester with nothing to lose and a German manager, Otto Rehhagel, who is understandably keen to help his native country qualify for the finals.

Appointed in August, the former Kaiserslautern, Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen coach is aware of the need to improve on last month's humiliating 5-1 defeat in Finland.

"Of course, I want to help Germany," Rehhagel said. "But it would be an insult if that was all I was concentrating on. We need to improve on our last game and that is what is most important to me."

Rehhagel will draw some encouragement from having a squad that includes seven of the Panathinaikos players who beat Arsenal 1-0 in the Champions League last week.

Comforting though this thought might be, however, Rehhagel may find that tangling with Eriksson's England in the cauldron of Old Trafford is an altogether different proposition.

Probable teams:

England - Nigel Martyn, Ashley Cole, Martin Keown, Rio Ferdinand, Gary Neville, Nick Barmby, Steven Gerrard, Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Emile Heskey, Robbie Fowler.

Greece - 1-Antonis Nikopolidis, 2-Nikos Dabizas, 3-Christos Patsatzoglou, 4-Michalis Kasapis, 5-Giorgos Karagounis, 6-Sotiris Kyrgiakos, 7-Angelos Basinas, 8-Costas Konstantinidis, 9-Theo Zagorakis, 10-Demis Nikolaidis, 11-Nikos Machlas.