England will take the unusual step of wearing an all-red strip
for the crunch match with Slovenia.
England have historically worn red shirts with white shorts and
red socks as an away strip option, occasionally going for navy blue
shorts when white ones have clashed.
But with Slovenia wearing all white and nominated the 'home'
team at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on
Wednesday, England are going for the rare all-red option.
Take it as red: The kit England will wear against
Slovenia
It is believed the only time they previously wore it in the
finals was at the 1962 World Cup in Chile, where they drew 0-0 with
a poor Bulgaria side who had already been beaten by Argentina and
Hungary.
The result that day - the first-round final group match - was
enough to see England scrape into the knock-out phase on goal
average, but a repeat on Wednesday would not be sufficient.
England are first thought to have worn the strip in a friendly
against Peru in 1962, which the Three Lions won 4-0.
World Cup warning? Alan Peacock (left) models the
strip as England draw 0-0 with Bulgaria at the 1962 finals - but
the result is enough to qualify to the second round
The same kit was used in Bobby Moore's first game as captain in
1963, a 4-2 win against Czechoslovakia.
They won against Belgium 3-1 in all-red back in 1970, but had no
such luck against Brazil in 1995, which ended in a defeat by the
same scoreline.
Apparently the current squad of players prefer the red shorts
option to navy blue and anything that makes them happy at the
moment is a boost for the big game.