England national football team/import

The England national football team represents England in international association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. Although most national teams worldwide represent a sovereign state, the four Home Nations which form the United Kingdom are each represented separately in international tournaments. England's home ground is Wembley Stadium in London and their head coach is Fabio Capello.

England are one of seven national teams to have won the FIFA World Cup, which they did in 1966 when they hosted the finals. They defeated West Germany 4–2 in extra time in the final. Since then their best performance at a World Cup was reaching the semi-finals in 1990, where they lost to West Germany on penalties. They reached the semi-finals of the UEFA European Championship in 1968 and 1996. They were the most successful of the home nations in the British Home Championship with 54 wins (including 20 shared wins) before the competition was suspended in 1984. They remain a prominent team on the global stage, rarely dropping outside of the top ten on both the FIFA and Elo rankings.

Traditionally, England's greatest rivals have been Scotland, who were their opponents in the first-ever international football match in 1870. Rivalries with other countries have become more prominent since regular fixtures against Scotland came to an end in the late 1980s. Matches against Argentina and Germany have produced particularly eventful encounters.

History
The England national football team is the joint oldest in the world; it was formed at the same time as Scotland. A representative match between England and Scotland was played on 5 March 1870, having been organised by the Football Association. A return fixture was organised by representatives of Scottish football teams on 30 November 1872. This match, played at Hamilton Crescent in Scotland, is viewed as the first official international football match because the two teams were independently selected and operated, rather than being the work of a single football association. Over the next forty years, England played exclusively with the other three Home Nations—Scotland, Wales and Ireland—in the British Home Championship.

Home stadium
For the first 50 years of their existence, England played their home matches all around the country. They initially used cricket grounds before later moving on to football clubs' stadiums. The original Empire Stadium was built in Wembley, located in Brent, London, and was constructed for the British Empire Exhibition. England played their first match at the stadium in 1924 against Scotland and for the next 27 years Wembley was used as a venue for matches against Scotland only. The stadium later became known simply as Wembley Stadium and it became England's permanent home stadium during the 1950s. This stadium was demolished in 2001 and work began to completely rebuild it. During this time, England played at various different venues across the country. They returned to the new Wembley Stadium in 2007. The stadium is now owned by the Football Association via its subsidiary Wembley National Stadium Limited.

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 6
England qualified for the 2010 World Cup by winning their first eight matches, including 4–1 and 5–1 victories against Croatia, who knocked England out of Euro 2008. Their sole defeat was in Ukraine after qualification had been secured.

2010 FIFA World Cup
The 2010 World Cup draw, which took place on 4 December 2009, placed England in Group C. They will play their first match against the United States on 12 June, followed by Algeria on 18 June and finally Slovenia on 23 June.

Friendly matches 2009–10
England's score is written first.

Recent call-ups
The following players have also been called up to the England squad within the last twelve months.