Eriksson guided England to the quarter-finals in three successive tournaments before leaving his post at the end of the 2006 World Cup after the Football Association decided not to renew his contract.

The Three Lions lost to Portugal on penalties four years ago after Wayne Rooney was controversially sent off but Eriksson believes England's key men now have the added maturity to go all the way in South Africa.

"England have good chances. Absolutely," Eriksson told Press Association Sport. "They have a very experienced team. Most of the players have been in big tournaments like the World Cup before.

"You have Wayne Rooney who is coming from a great, great season and he is an extremely important player.

"So I think they have a great chance of reaching the semi-final and why not the final?

"We had a good chance in the last World Cup and I think we should have done better than we did but they have maybe an even better chance because players like (Rio) Ferdinand, (Steven) Gerrard, (Frank) Lampard, Rooney, Ashley Cole...they have more experience now, they are more mature than they were four years ago.

"England are one of the favourites. Maybe the biggest ones are Spain and Brazil. I think that's what everyone in football would say if you asked them."

England have gone from strength to strength under Capello and expectations will be high when they kick off their World Cup campaign against the United States on June 12.

Reports suggest Juventus are willing to do what it takes to tempt the Italian away from England after the tournament but Eriksson believes Capello will at least see out his contract which runs until after Euro 2012.

"I have absolutely no idea what Capello will do after the World Cup," said the recently-appointed Ivory Coast coach. "But I suppose he stays where he is because it's a great job.

"I was extremely happy for five and a half years to have that job and very very proud.

"Regrets? Losing the last World Cup on penalty shoot-outs but that's history. It was a great time, fantastic."

Eriksson could possibly face Capello and his old team in South Africa after taking charge of the Ivory Coast at the end of March.

Didier Drogba and his team-mates have one of the toughest groups having been pitted against Brazil, Portugal and North Korea.

They kick off their World Cup campaign against Portugal who defeated England on penalties in the quarter-finals at Euro 2004 before doing the same two years later.

However, Eriksson insists there will be no sense of revenge heading into the match against his old foes.

"Brazil are favourites to win the group and second should be us or Portugal or North Korea on paper," he said. "But that's on paper.

"But the first match for us is really important. There's no sense of revenge, this time it can't be penalty shoot-outs that's for sure.

"I'm looking forward to that but first we have to start the preparation and it's still far away. But it's important."

Despite being drawn in the so-called 'group of death' Eriksson insists a quarter-final spot is their target and is not even considering failing to progress from their pool.

He said: "To go through would be a success from a group like that.

"If we can reach the quarter-final I think everyone should be thinking it's a great success from an African team, for the Ivory Coast. That's the first target.

"I don't know if finishing third would be a failure. But I haven't thought about that. We have to work, to believe we can pass the group and go further of course."

Eriksson, who has never been to the Ivory Coast, has been working hard to meet most of his charges since he was appointed just two and a half months before the start of the tournament.

And the 62-year-old is confident he will have enough time to stamp his mark on the team.

Eriksson added: "I've been travelling around Europe to see as many of them as possible and May 17 we meet up and then I will really know them and start to work with them on the pitch and things like that.

"I haven't been there yet because I've been busy travelling around Europe because 99% of the players in the national team are based in Europe but I'm going next week to the Ivory Coast."