Click here to bet on Rooney topscoring for England
Sven-Goran Eriksson believes Wayne Rooney can play as a lone striker at the World Cup - but the England boss refused to be drawn on whether he will change his formation following the injury to Michael Owen.
Owen, England's leading overall scorer in the squad, was carried off against Sweden and has been ruled out for the rest of the tournament, leaving Eriksson will just three strikers in his squad.
It has led to suggestions the Swede could keep holding midfielder Owen Hargreaves in the side against Ecuador for the second round clash in Stuttgart on Sunday, with Rooney or Peter Crouch leading the attack on their own.
"I'm sure Wayne Rooney can do whatever you can ask him to do," he said at a press conference screened by Sky Sports News.
Manchester United striker Rooney has made a stunning comeback after breaking a bone in his foot on April 29, and against Sweden he showed glimpses of returning to full fitness.
"Rooney is getting fitter which is a positive thing," Eriksson added.
On whether Rooney will play the whole match against Ecuador, Eriksson said: "It's difficult to say, I hope so but when the match starts the match will decide that.
"He dropped a little bit in the second half (against Sweden) which is normal and I decided to take him off after 70 minutes and that was good for him.
"There are more practice session and he's young and strong."
Eriksson, meanwhile, was pleased with Hargreaves against Sweden. Hargreaves had been jeered by England fans earlier in the tournament but the Bayern Munich midfielder impressed in a rare opportunity in his favourite holding role.
"I'm very happy for him because he's been criticised for years, but what you saw against Sweden is what Owen Hargreaves can do," added Eriksson.
A defiant Eriksson again defended his decision to include only four strikers in his World Cup squad.
"I'm quite sure I picked the best squad," he insisted.
"You can never know if a player will get injured.
"It's not good that Michael has gone but I am not worried about the situation.
"We have to play better and better from now on and I strongly believe we will do that. The plan was to win the group and we did that. Hopefully we will go on and on."
Eriksson, asked if he could explain England's slack defending at set-pieces against Sweden, ruled out any suggestion that he had called for zonal marking and pinned the blame on his players.
"We always mark man to man," he said, before being asked why England had failed to man-mark players.
"It's a very good question. Ask the players."
Eriksson claimed that England had controlled the match against Sweden, apart from the set-pieces.
"The second half was not down to tactics or fitness. We just defended very poorly at set-pieces."
Eriksson is yet to use 17-year-old striker Theo Walcott and said the circumstances were not right to bring him on against Sweden in Cologne.
"It was very difficult to give him a go. Two of the three substitutions were because of injury (Owen and Rio Ferdinand) and the third one was Rooney coming off," said the England boss.
Eriksson would not be drawn on what role Steven Gerrard will play in against Ecuador.
He would only say: "It depends on the system we use. He can play whatever role we want in midfield or as the second striker. He is absolutely fantastic in every role."
Eriksson added that he had been watching videos of England's next opponents and said he had not seen "the real Ecuador" in the defeat against Germany when the South Americans rested half a team.
With suggestions that Eriksson will play a 4-5-1 formation, Crouch instead made the case for playing himself as one of two strikers, alongside Rooney.
"I want to play," he said.
"Myself and Wayne can work with each other. It's a bitter blow to lose a player like Michael but we have to pick ourselves up - we know injuries happen.
"Of course, we'll see more in training as to which formation the manager will choose to play but we're all comfortable with whatever he does pick."
Crouch, 6ft 7in, dismissed the suggestion that his presence encourages England to play a long-ball game.
"It frustrates me when people say that," said Crouch.
"I receive the ball into feet as much as anyone else. With international football, you need more than that to break teams down and we all know that."
With England heading into the knock-out rounds, the players have been practising penalty shoot-outs.
And, although Crouch missed from the spot against Jamaica in England's final friendly before the World Cup, he is confident he will not make the same mistake again.
"I let myself down at Old Trafford," he said.
"I'm sure I won't be taking penalties like that out here but whether the manager wants me to take a penalty or not is a different story."
Crouch is confident England will not be exposed at set-pieces against Ecuador as they were against Sweden.
"I can honestly say that won't happen again," added Crouch.
"One of our strengths is defending and attacking set-pieces and we'll be working on it.
"We were picking up players. At times in the Premiership it's more phyical but in this competition you cannot pull on shirts, but sure we'll be able to deal with that."
Crouch understands why there are still doubts over him taking over from Owen, adding: "I'm as disappointed as anyone else that Michael has gone back.
"I'm new to the squad so obviously there'll be questions but hopefully I'll answer those questions in the best way possible - which is winning games and scoring goals."
