In a word – No!
Apologies for upsetting all the patriots who have been sticking a fiver on England down at William Hills but we have no chance I’m afraid. “Rubbish!” you may scream as you look through your English rose tinted specs whilst dribbling a pint of Stella down your St. Georges t-shirt.
Well here are 10 good reasons:
1. Goalkeeper. We don’t know who will be playing in goal as we don’t have a decent keeper. Oh, for the days when custodians such as Clemence, Parkes, Martyn etc. were deemed not good enough to get any further than the bench; such was our strength between the sticks. Now we are looking at either an injured 39 year old nicknamed Calamity, a keeper who is third choice at Man United or an internationally unproven Robert Green. In fact the only English goalie who has had a blinding season is Joe Hart at Birmingham City. Will be interesting to see who Capello gives the no. 1 shirt to for the next friendly.
2. Right back. We have Glen Johnson who is probably in the top echelon of attacking full backs in world football. But he cannot defend and at the top level he cannot give the ball away with the frequency he has done in the qualifying campaign. And another problem is that he has done his knee in and may not be around for a while. Gary Neville anyone? No – I thought not.
3. Rio. Is he finished? Injury prone, out of form, lost a yard of pace, too many outside interests etc. However true these claims are there is no escaping the fact that he is not the player he was 12 months ago.
4. Too many other potential winners. Any one of Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Holland, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ivory Coast could win the trophy. If we qualify from our group we would probably have to beat 4 of the above teams to win it. I very much doubt that we could do so. This is the most open world cup ever with possible winners everywhere you look.
5. Penalties. We can’t take them, and we can’t save them. For some reason we concentrate on blaming players who miss as opposed to our keepers who never save them. Why not pick the most successful English spot kick saver over the last 2 seasons and take him as 3rd choice keeper who we bring on for the penalties?
6. The Aussies. They hate us and if we end up playing them they would give us a hell of a game.
7. Rooney’s temper. Okay he has matured a lot over the last couple of seasons but if he is frustrated at getting no service will he keep his cool when some Argie is kicking lumps out of him whilst whispering in his ear about all the nice things he would like to do to Coleen?
8. Fitness. Our players are nearly all knackered! Injury concerns about James, Johnson, Woodgate, Rio, Gerrard, J. Cole, Heskey, Walcott and Hargreaves.
9. Form. Too many players having average seasons. Big names such as Barry, Gerrard, Terry, Heskey, Downing, Upson, Crouch, Carrick, Brown, Wright Phillips, Owen etc. have become very mediocre over the last couple of months.
10. No kids coming through to pressurise the old guard. With the exception of outstanding Lennon and Milner there is no-one knocking on Fabio’s door demanding a starting place. The good young English players are not getting a look in at there clubs who pack their starting eleven with foreign players. Star prospects such as Sturridge at Chelsea and the Arsenal crop are very much bit players who spend time waiting for the next round of the Carling Cup.
It’s not all doom and gloom though. The weather will resemble an English winter so at least we won’t suffer from the heat experienced at previous tournaments. So no excuses boys – bring back the big prize!