The preliminaries are over. England get down to the real business today against Germany, their old rivals, in the semi-finals of the World Cup. The winners will play either Australia, the pre-tournament favourites, or the Netherlands — who also meet today — in the final on Saturday.

In London in 1986, England were pitted against West Germany at the same stage of the competition before losing to Australia in the final. More than two decades later, they are daring to dream of more success and stand on the brink of realising their ambitions.

Their triumph last summer, when the core of this squad beat Germany in the European Championship final, was a huge leap forward. Convinced that they belong among the world’s elite, their resurgence can be attributed to years of meticulous planning overseen by David Faulkner, the England Hockey performance director, who played in the 1986 final and won Olympic gold with Great Britain in 1988.

The signs were evident four years ago, with a fifth-placed finish — their best for 16 years — at the World Cup. That was followed by another fifth place at the 2008 Beijing Olympics for a Great Britain side of whom all but two were England players.

Jason Lee, 39, the England and Great Britain head coach and a two-times Olympian, is not the sort to grab any glory, but he deserves great credit for the team’s achievements.

Appointed in 2003, he is England’s longest-serving coach. After a dreadful Athens Olympics campaign — they finished ninth — Lee retained only five players and started rebuilding. “I brought in a lot of new players and over the years have gradually introduced others to the core group,” he said.

“We’ve made major ground in tactical awareness, but a big factor in our success is that consistency of funding has promoted consistency of play. I’ve been lucky to make a lot of mistakes and be around to find the answers.”

An increase in annual funding was granted in 2006, after London won the bid for the 2012 Olympic Games, and helped England and Great Britain to lay the foundations. The £3 million for the top 64 men and women athletes has remained constant.

The financial security enabled competitive international programmes to be planned and coaching structures to be put in place, athletes being prepared to commit to the programme and national coaches feeling safe in their jobs. Three national performance centres are also up and running.

England’s improved results and displays earned leading players lucrative contracts in the Dutch and German leagues and led to them returning with enhanced reputations. Barry Middleton, the England captain, and Ashley Jackson are team-mates at HGC, in The Hague, and are widely regarded as two of the world’s best players.

James Fair, the England goalkeeper, said: “All the funding has helped us to train better, become physically fitter and improve our techniques. Our performances have become so much more consistent and there is a real hunger in the squad to succeed.”

First they must overcome Germany, who can never be underestimated despite being the youngest team. Matthias Witthaus, 27, the veteran in a side with an average age of 23 and an Olympic gold medal-winner in 2008, said: “I play to win. I’ll settle for nothing less than the top spot.”

Meanwhile, the Pakistan parliament is to grill officials and players this month on the team’s debacle in Delhi. The four-times world champions face the ignominy of a play-off for eleventh/twelfth place against Canada today.

• Live coverage of England’s semi-final is at 12.35pm GMT today, BBC red button.

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