FRANK Worthington isn’t concerned about hot-head Wayne Rooney blowing his top at the World Cup.

The former England international insists the Manchester United star can harness his infamous temper to help Fabio Capello’s side lift the trophy in just over a month’s time.

And the former Bolton Wanderers favourite, now 61, is confident Rooney can keep his cool – because he sees something of himself in the mercurial striker.

“Rooney is the one world-class player we have got who you can throw your hat on and say he can really rise to the World Cup occasion,” said Worthington, who earned eight caps for his country in 1974.

“He’s a brilliant player – I see shades of myself in him.

“We possibly rely too much on him but he might feed off something like that.

“He loves to be in that spotlight, doing everything, and he has all the talent and ability, which ultimately means goals.

“He can get himself into trouble. But, aside from all that, he’s got the X Factor.

"He’s the one exceptional player you know can light up the tournament.”

Worthington believes England will qualify comfortably from their group, ahead of the US, Algeria and Slovenia but worries that, Rooney aside, there might not be enough attacking options for Capello’s side to go all the way.

“You’ve got to have that belief in your country,” he said.

“We might not have a lot of natural talent to rely on up front, but there is potential there.

“The big lads – Heskey and Crouch – are strong but I wonder whether their touch is good enough at international level.

“The essence of being a top-class striker is first touch – dead. If the ball gets away from you, it’s gone.

“You’ve got to be tough, sure, but you have also got to be able to play to your limits.”

Worthington is also crossing his fingers that England have been practising their penalties, having seen them lose out so many times in shootouts in recent years.

In five attempts at major tournaments, the Euro 96 victory against Spain at Wembley remains the country’s only success in the pressure-cooker atmosphere of penalty kicks – and they have crashed outin such a manner in three of the last four World Cups.

Worthington scored six times from the spot in his time at Wanderers, and says repetition is the only way England can break their jinx.

“I took them wherever I went,” he said.

“I would be making every single player go back after training and take 20 penalties each, so they get the feel.

"It might be a different story when you get one in a game and you’re surrounded by 100,000 people, but if you have trained on it, and have that focus in your mind about what you are going to do with it you’ll have a much better chance.”