Weather warning for England as heat tops 35C

England were given an extreme weather warning by manager Sven Göran Eriksson as it emerged that temperatures for today's match were likely to exceed those that caused players to wilt during the team's first game of the tournament.

Weather forecasters were warning that, at 4pm today, England's footballers will kick off in a heat of 35C. They played their World Cup opener in similar conditions in Frankfurt on 10 June. They struggled, beating Paraguay 1-0 with an own goal. But Eriksson remained confident that England would cope. "It's important that we keep the ball tomorrow and I think that we will be better than the other three matches we played," he said. He added that Wayne Rooney may be ready to play a full game.