Rooney: England will make it difficult for Wales
Wayne Rooney is confident England have the system, style and substance to not only threaten Wales but any team at Euro 2016.
Thursday's eagerly-anticipated home nations encounter at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis has become all the more interesting thanks to Gareth Bale's pre-match jibes and, most pertinently, the Group B results to date.
Victory in Lens will assure Wales of progression to the knock-out stages after Slovakia overcame Russia on Wednesday, while England need a timely shot in the arm against their old foes after drawing the opener 1-1.
Russia's last-gasp gut punch in Marseille has not thrown the Three Lions off kilter, though, with captain Rooney's understated confidence clear on the eve of the match in Lens.
"I think the other night was a very good performance, shame about the result," he said.
"It was disappointing to concede late doors, but I think if we play a similar way, a similar performance, then we've certainly got a great chance of winning the game.
"We had a couple of chances. If you score one more of them, the game is over so we have to be clinical.
"I think if we perform the way we did, it will be difficult for not just Wales but for any team to stop us playing that way and winning games.
"But we performed very well and we only drew so that's something which we have to try and improve."
That lack of ruthlessness led to a group stage exit at the World Cup two years ago and was underlined as key in the build-up to the tournament to prevent Euro 2016 going the same way.
Rooney hopes Wales, big outsiders with the bookmakers, will try to bring the game to England in Lens, even if shackling Bale will prove as tough a challenge as any at these championships.
Numerous England players have spoken of the importance of focusing on the collective rather than any individual, although the Real Madrid attacker is undoubtedly Chris Coleman's jewel in the crown.
Asked how many world-class players will be on the pitch on Thursday, Rooney said: "I don't know. I think there's a lot of very good players, obviously.
"I think we've got a lot of good players, they've got some good players. I think it's going to be an interesting game.
"Wales are a very organised team and I imagine we will have a lot of the ball and we'll have to work very hard to try to break them down and be aware of their counter-attacks.
"In terms of world-class players, that's down for other people to say.
"I believe there's lots of very good players who would get into a lot of teams on the pitch tomorrow."