Prince William asks England to bring home World Cup
Pakistan Times Sports Desk

MANCHESTER (UK): Britain’s Prince William said the England football team promised to bring home the World Cup from Germany when he gave them a good luck message at their training camp.

With less than a week before the team flies to Germany, the second-in-line to the throne made a surprise visit to Manchester United’s Carrington training ground to meet manager Sven-Goran Eriksson and his players.

The elder son of Prince Charles said he was confident Eriksson’s team would do well in Germany, but he appealed to the squad to avoid penalties, which have caused England to drop out of three of the last five major competitions.

“I wanted to send a good luck message to them direct. I wished them luck and asked them to bring the World Cup home for us. They said they would,” he said. “I am sure they will do very well.

It would be awesome to win the World Cup. “I hope it brings the whole country together with a feeling of camaraderie as everyone shares in the highs and lows and tensions.

“But please, no penalties.” He added: “To all the fans, go and support the team well and keep the passion up. “Like the rest of the country, I am 150 percent behind the England team and I would like to wish them all the best.”

The England manager halted Thursday’s training session—preparing for England’s final warm-up friendly against Jamaica on Saturday—to introduce Prince William.

The royal was also given a personal demonstration of “The Crouch”, lanky England forward Peter Crouch’s bizarre goal-scoring celebration during a World Cup warm-up match. William burst out laughing and shook his head as the 6ft 7in (2.04 metre) Liverpool forward gave a reprise of the stiff-legged robotic shuffle that has apparently sparked a dance craze.

Crouch, 25, performed the dance—a jerky blend of body-popping, robotic dancing and moonwalking—after bagging England’s second goal in the 3-1 friendly win against Hungary at Old Trafford, Manchester, on Tuesday night. After a two-day ribbing in the British press about his dancing abilities, teammates urged Crouch to give them a laugh once more.●