World Cup 2006 Qualifying Group Six: England's road to the 2006 World Cup cuts through the past this afternoon. That diversion is a scenic route, with views of an ancient football landscape. Important as any fixture inherently is in this tournament, the qualifier with Wales at Old Trafford offers additional prizes. These are particularly attractive to the visitors and, in that regard, Sven-Goran Eriksson's team are at a disadvantage.

Wales could wrestle from the day a tale that they will rejoice in recounting for decades to come. For England it would be undignified to gloat over a win against a smaller nation. This might feel just like a business matter for them as they set off to bank another three points in the Group Six account.

If minds are dulled by the assumption that this is a routine task, England will be vulnerable.

"I hope we are as up for it as Wales are," said Eriksson. "If we are not, the risk is very big that we will not win the game. You will not win games even with the best XI in the world if you don't fight."

An outsider will feel like an anthropologist as he considers this contest. Stretching for an analogy, Eriksson compares it to meetings between Sweden and Norway, but he realises that the match with Wales is even more distinctive. "It's a strange situation," he said. "You are playing against almost-countrymen."

It is that blend of intimacy and enmity that characterises the encounter. As soon as the sides collided in the World Cup draw, talk turned to the previous clash, 20 years ago, when Wales won 1-0. In truth, the Home International series of which people now speak so sentimentally had long since gone to seed. Today's game is a much greater event. There is a real reward at stake and ambitions have been honed, in Wales at least, during the wait for renewed rivalry.

Followers of Mark Hughes's team will galvanise themselves by supposing that they are being patronised. They would enjoy unearthing hidden disparagement in comments from Eriksson that were purely factual.

"If you look at the size of the countries and the number of people England has playing football in comparison to Wales," he said, "England is the big brother. I didn't mean we were much better than Wales. But, when you talk about England and Wales, England will always be the big brother, whether it's in football or anything else."

Eriksson is full of praise for Wales and speaks with concern, for instance, of the pace of Ryan Giggs and Craig Bellamy. In practice, though, his side should win efficiently and tighten their grip on Group Six. The likeliest rivals, Austria and Poland, have still to travel to meet England.

There continue to be indications that England will, in effect, field three forwards, with Wayne Rooney marginally adrift of Michael Owen and Jermain Defoe. Eriksson has begun with an attacking trident before at Old Trafford, but that was merely against Liechtenstein.

The England manager may hesitate only because there are reservations over all three of his attackers. Eriksson supposes that not even the prospect of a World Cup final itself would perturb Rooney, but one might still ask whether a lack of match fitness could hamper him.

The euphoria of his Manchester United debut brought a hat-trick against Fenerbahce but Middlesbrough's George Boateng shackled him in a 1-1 draw five days later. Wales will detail someone like Mark Pembridge to be his jailer.

Defoe, with one start for England, is inexperienced while Owen, well versed as he is in international football, is out of form and usually out of the team at Real Madrid.

"It's not a concern today," Eriksson said of his vice-captain, "but it might be at Christmas-time. I am sure he wants to show (people what he can do) and this is a very good opportunity for him, if he plays."

For the most part England are on the upswing, glad that Sol Campbell is available once more and amazed at Rio Ferdinand's condition after his eight-month ban. In a match that will contain rough patches Eriksson hopes the Norwegian referee Terje Hauge will not bridle at strong tackles.

Yet England do not need to look solely to an official's temperament to save David Beckham and Owen from the booking that will bring a suspension.

England should hope instead to tame the action by outplaying Wales. Draws with Azerbaijan and Northern Ireland do suggest that Hughes's side are short of the standards they set in the home win over Italy during the Euro 2004 qualifiers.

If they control Wales, England will be in command of Group Six.