England World Cup Squad.

[chunkygull]

To add a bit of perspective, Italy only drew 1-1 with Luxembourg last night.

Whilst these warm up games (not friendles) are important, we maybe shouldnt read too much into the results.

[Gullscorer]

Don't waste any time on this World Cup. It saddens me to say it, but this mediocre (except perhaps for a couple of players) England squad haven't got a hope in hell of getting past the early stages; a reflection of the sad state of British football, which has existed now for many years, with no foreseeable hope of improvement..

[Southampton Gull]

Don't waste any time on this World Cup. It saddens me to say it, but this mediocre (except perhaps for a couple of players) England squad haven't got a hope in hell of getting past the early stages; a reflection of the sad state of British football, which has existed now for many years, with no foreseeable hope of improvement..

Crap. They've got as much chance as Italy and Uruguay have of progressing. Quite why people get carried away with the showings in meaningless friendlies is beyond me.

[Gullscorer]

:~D

[Dave]

Agree with Dave SG here, I haven't forgotten the run up to Italy 1990 world cup, our last two friendlies our national team lost at Wembley 1.2 to Uruguay and then scraped a 1.1 away to Tunisia, I remember the press at the time going mad, asking for our team to be flown home, yet a wicked deflection in the semi-final was the only thing that stopped us from probably winning the W/C that year.

As said in my previous reply the low expectation is justified , we've gone to world cup finals with a better England team than this current one, but you never know, it's not always the best team that wins it. We certainly do not have the most complete team in the finals, you need that and a stroke of luck.

Nothing wrong with our team going forward, we are better in the attacking third than many give credit for, plenty of pace up there as well, nothing wrong with the movement off the ball last night, and this England team is capable of scoring goals against anyone . Problems at the other end, we do not have two great centre backs, and our right back is dodgy to say the least, love them or hate them, if we were going to this world cup with G.Neville, Adams and Terry at the back in this current team, we would have as much chance as anyone to win this world cup.

[happytorq]

Don't waste any time on this World Cup. It saddens me to say it, but this mediocre (except perhaps for a couple of players) England squad haven't got a hope in hell of getting past the early stages; a reflection of the sad state of British football, which has existed now for many years, with no foreseeable hope of improvement..

Can't help feeling I'm taking the bait here, but this patently untrue. They have a hope of getting through the group, and any of the prospective opponents in the second round are beatable. (Group H is arguably one of the weakest groups). It's a tough group, with Italy and Uruguay both being really good teams - and Costa Rica are no mugs - and getting out would be an achievement in itself...but to say 'no chance' is lunacy.

Also, the last comment "no foreseeable hope of improvement" - not sure how you can say that. English coaching techniques have been behind the rest of the world for decades, but they're finally improving that by coaching kids in a more appropriate way (smaller side games, focus on technique rather than physical prowess, etc). It'll take years - probably at 10 more years before the results of those efforts start to be more consistent, but you're already seeing some isolated results (look at Southampton).

Of course, there's every chance that the other nations will have gone ahead again before that happens.

[DerbyshireGull]

England disappointed me the other night because I was waiting on them to win to get up my accumulator. Honduras were brutal at times in their approach but the predictability of England in failing to break down 10 men was a little disturbing if you're an England fan. I'm not so it isn't. That said I have to disagree with GS and I think the chances of Italy, Uruguay and England in getting out of the group are equal.

The weak link IMO is England's defence and their test will be keeping the likes of Cavani and Suarez quiet as well as the partisan hordes of travelling Uruguayans. I don't think the rest of the Uruguay squad can be feared in quite the same way. They have some workmanlike battlers in the middle and defensively are pretty solid but I believe England should just go all out attack and use their young inexperienced players to that effect. It will be tough in the heat but sit back and it's a group stage exit IMO.

Italy have had some shocking results in the past few years and I cannot see them getting out of this group. In fact it wouldn't surprise me to see them finish bottom. The one thing I can't understand though is when people refer to Italy as the team who keep it tight and try and nick one. Prandelli is a more offensive manager and this isn't really the case anymore.

Costa Rica could get a shock result.

England could actually win the group if they approach games in the right manner and I think the new found sense of youth and togetherness can take them at least to the quarters. If Roy plays it safe then I think the football will be poor, nervousness will kick in and it will be a struggle to get any momentum and get out of the group. I like the young players like Lallana, Sterling, Sturridge, Chamberlain et al. They are danger men and England don't want to just be relying on Rooney to spark something. They can all cause problems if given the licence. If not then the England defence will have the problems and it's an early plane back home.

[Jerry]

England disappointed me the other night because I was waiting on them to win to get up my accumulator. Honduras were brutal at times in their approach but the predictability of England in failing to break down 10 men was a little disturbing if you're an England fan. I'm not so it isn't. That said I have to disagree with GS and I think the chances of Italy, Uruguay and England in getting out of the group are equal.

The weak link IMO is England's defence and their test will be keeping the likes of Cavani and Suarez quiet as well as the partisan hordes of travelling Uruguayans. I don't think the rest of the Uruguay squad can be feared in quite the same way. They have some workmanlike battlers in the middle and defensively are pretty solid but I believe England should just go all out attack and use their young inexperienced players to that effect. It will be tough in the heat but sit back and it's a group stage exit IMO.

Italy have had some shocking results in the past few years and I cannot see them getting out of this group. In fact it wouldn't surprise me to see them finish bottom. The one thing I can't understand though is when people refer to Italy as the team who keep it tight and try and nick one. Prandelli is a more offensive manager and this isn't really the case anymore.

Costa Rica could get a shock result.

England could actually win the group if they approach games in the right manner and I think the new found sense of youth and togetherness can take them at least to the quarters. If Roy plays it safe then I think the football will be poor, nervousness will kick in and it will be a struggle to get any momentum and get out of the group. I like the young players like Lallana, Sterling, Sturridge, Chamberlain et al. They are danger men and England don't want to just be relying on Rooney to spark something. They can all cause problems if given the licence. If not then the England defence will have the problems and it's an early plane back home.

Completely agree with your assessment here Andy. I fancy us to get through to the quarter finals which would be a decent achievement I think.

Adam Lallana is 26 though, not exactly young.

The tabloids keep naming him as one of the youngsters because they are blinded by the Premier League and he's only been in it a couple of seasons, so not on their radar.