The 6ft 7in England striker premiered his own unique version of robotics at the Beckhams' lavish World Cup party just over a week ago. While Wayne Rooney gingerly wiggled his metatarsal and Rio Ferdinand archly clicked his fingers on the mirrored dancefloor, the gangly Liverpool forward was head and shoulders above his peers as he shape-shifted to James Brown's funky beat.

But supporters really twitched to attention on Tuesday night, when England met Hungary in their penultimate friendly before the tournament in Germany. At first, Sven's starlets failed to shine with their predictable adoption of Brazilian forward Bebeto's baby-rocking goal routine to mark John Terry's headed goal. It was, admittedly, in a good cause: his girlfriend has just given birth to twins. Then Peter Crouch took to the field and promptly upstaged his more celebrated teammates. Spinning like a top to shoot as accurately as Robin Hood, he scored an immaculate goal and celebrated with an eye-popping display: face taut with concentration, he mimicked a robot as he moved one way, then the other.

Was it a stick insect after too many coffees? A beanpole spasm in the breeze? Or was it the stirring sight of the best kind of English hero - the unheralded kind - whose unpredictable skills might just bring home the World Cup on Sunday July 9? As Crouch shuffled, a collective gasp passed through the watching millions. Instead of anguishing over the merits of 4-1-4-1, or whether Stevie Gerrard should be stuck in the hole, England fans were suddenly thinking, hell, with moves like that we can win this thing.

What inspired Crouch to become lord of the dance? England were still World Cup holders when the very first precursors of robotics took hold among the gangs of Los Angeles and New York. American kids invented locking and popping, which became part of the US disco mainstream in the Seventies as Charlie Robot performed "the robot" on the Soul Train TV programme. And Crouch was still in nappies when Jeffrey Daniels of Shalamar became the first man to appear on British television popping his body. Soon, everywhere - from Tramp to the Cub Scout disco - reverberated to the pop and lock of robotics.

Crouch may not have learned his moves in the cradle. According to Paul Gascoigne - former holder of the best England goal celebration for his "dentist's chair" - the dance is a riposte to critics who first jeered and then sneered that Crouch was a stiff, predictable, robotic sort of player. Howard Tam, a street dancer and teacher with the Foundationz Cru, is not too impressed with Crouch's robotics. But it is, he concedes, difficult to get a robotic rhythm when you are not performing to music. Robotics is not about how you start, it is about how you stop.

"If he wants to do it properly he's got to be a lot harder when he hits his moves and he's got to stop faster. When you stop your movements that's when what we call "the hit" comes. That goes with the body-popping as well," says Tam. "You've got to be loose, then you've got to be rigid. Where he is changing direction with his arms going up and down, it's got to be a lot more forceful. It's got to shake the dancefloor [or the football pitch]. There's got to be more force."

Lacking a memorable official World Cup song, England have at least stumbled upon a dance move to galvanise the fans. He's got the world at his feet and if England's tall, thin hope can do the Crouch six or seven times on the pitch in the coming month, England faithfuls will all be dancing in the streets.