England's World Cup squad numbers may have given a strong indication as to which players will start the first game against the United States in Rustenburg next week.

Fabio Capello and his 23-man squad touched down in South Africa on Thursday morning before travelling to their training base at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Campus.

The England contingent were greeted by local dignitaries and residents in a colourful welcome ceremony before the Football Association revealed the squad numbers for the players during the tournament.

David James has been given the number one jersey despite West Ham's Robert Green being widely tipped to start as England's first-choice goalkeeper.

The widely predicated back four of Glen Johnson, Ashley Cole, captain Rio Ferdinand and John Terry are numbers two, three, five and six respectively.

Peter Crouch may be given the nod to start alongside number ten Wayne Rooney in attack after being handed the number nine shirt.

Fellow strikers Jermain Defoe and Emile Heskey have been named as numbers 19 and 21 respectively.

Meanwhile, Aaron Lennon could be the set to start the tournament as the first-choice right-sided midfielder after taking the number seven jersey.

Elsewhere in the first 11 numbers on the official list submitted to FIFA, Steven Gerrard is number four, Frank Lampard eight and Joe Cole number 11.

Following the curtain-raiser against the USA, England then play Algeria in Cape Town on June 18 before completing their Group C programme with a match against Slovenia in Port Elizabeth five days later.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email