Former Italy striker Alessandro Del Piero has claimed that Wayne Rooney is "ready to lead" England and produce his best form at the World Cup.
The Manchester United forward has been criticised recently, with former teammate Paul Scholes suggesting that he is "worn out" - comments that the 28-year-old has dismissed.
Del Piero has backed Rooney, though, suggesting that he is much more prepared this time around and hopefully able to show his best form at the tournament in Brazil.
"Wayne is a terrific player," Del Piero told reporters. "Now he is more balanced and he is ready to lead this time, I hope."
Speaking about England's opening game against Italy, Del Piero also said: "It will be an open game. England are a little bit different to 10, 12 or 15 years ago. Now there are more situations where they can score goals or where they can do something special.
"I think Italy has a good history against England. Italy usually never misses the first game, the second game is historically a bad one for Italy. This is what history says but football is beautiful because everything can change in a few seconds."
Del Piero earned 91 caps for Italy, scoring 27 goals.
Sam Hughes
