England can bring back feel-good factor

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England Doesn’t Expect!

Every four years the world seem to resolve around a four-week festival of football. Whilst the game was created in England, Brazil is widely regarded as the spiritual home of the beautiful game.

I can’t think of a better place to hold a World Cup. I saw an opportunity to combine two of my passions in travelling and football and couldn’t miss the opportunity to attend the biggest sporting event in the world.

I went to Germany in 2006 which was an amazing experience. This time I will be following England having tickets to their three group games and possibly the round of 16 – should England get there!

In Germany the only game I saw was Sweden against Paraguay. Whilst many thousands flock to a tournament short plane ride away or a long drive just to soak up the atmosphere, the long trip to Brazil means there will be a much smaller group of England fans present in South America. I hope this increases the bond amongst travelling fans.

As a Sheffield Wednesday fan, I can only dream of travelling outside England for competitive games, so I will be savouring the experience.

As I write, the tournament is a matter of hours away and all the dreams and hopes remain in place. Yet I struggle to remember a time where so few people think England have any chance of lifting the trophy. Our previous two jaunts saw the so-called ‘Golden Generation’ fall short when it really mattered against quality opposition. Prior to that we were unlucky in France 98 and beaten by eventual World Champions in Brazil in 2002, yet in these tournaments the general public anticipated or expected the team to be successful.

I have a view as to what would constitute success in this tournament. Firstly, failure to get out of the group would be a massive under achievement. Yes it’s a difficult group, but the other teams won’t fancy facing us. Italy will struggle with the conditions in Manaus as we will, and they are scheduled to arrive a day later than our boys. Our team should pose a much greater threat to their defence than our meeting in Euro 2012.

Uruguay are sweating on the fitness of Luis Suarez. I actually hope he plays as I want England to win with the best players on the pitch. We all know what distraction an injury to such a key player can be in the build up to such a tournament. There isn’t a great strength-in-depth to the Uruguay squad which could help us.

Many people seem to be underestimating Costa Rica. They are likely to prove difficult opposition, but we have the players capable of beating them.

If we were to qualify from the group, we would face one of Ivory Coast, Greece, Japan or Colombia. Some of those teams could prove difficult opposition, but it’s not the same as Germany, Spain, Brazil or Argentina. I would fear Yaya Toure, but he can be tamed.

Chelsea proved so last season. The prospect of a likely quarter-final against Brazil or Spain, even Chile and the Netherlands, would see us as underdogs.

Isn’t it time we had some good fortune? We are due to beat a big team in a tournemant knock out game. Our luck seems to have been out since Geoff Hurst’s did it, or didn’t it cross the line goal. From Gordon Banks falling ill in 1970, the hand of God, penalty heartache, disallowed goals and even goals that were yards over the line, the rub of the green has generally gone against us.

That’s not including our ill-fated attempts to qualify in 1974 and 1994.

For me a successful tournament lies in reaching semi finals. I’m not saying that I expect us to reach the last four; far from it.

It has, after all, been 24 years since we progressed to that stage. In that time we’ve had numerous quarter finals, so would that really constitute a success even with lower expectations? Not in my opinion.

As a fan travelling out to Brazil, the thing I want most is to be entertained. The worst thing about South Africa was how poor the games were. Germans would feel differently, but I’d say we didn’t see a decent enjoyable game four years ago.

Looking ahead to our first game against Italy, there are still some starting places up for grabs. The goalkeeper and back four pretty much picks itself, even though I would have preferred to see Ashley Cole in there, I’m looking forward to seeing Leighton Baines. Steven Gerard is a definite, most likely alongside Jordan Henderson. Although Jack Wilshere is probably a better player, on current form Henderson deserves his place. Added to that you don’t fear the Liverpool man is going to pick up an injury at any time.

Wilshere is an excellent option on the bench. Wayne Rooney Rooney and Daniel Sturridge are certain starters, and I’d say (fitness issues aside) Danny Welbeck is currently in prime position to step in off the bench. That would leave three fighting it out for the final spot. I’d go with Raheem Sterling to offer us some width and additional pace.

I suspect Roy Hodgson will play James Milner or possibly Adam Lallana and be more cautious, but I hope I’m wrong. Sterling must be itching to play after missing the Honduras friendly through suspension. We also have something we have lacked in more recent years; good options on the bench. As well as Wishere, if Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain can regain fitness he could be a key player.

I saw Ross Barkley on loan at Hillsborough and could see his class. I really believe he could set this tournament alight given the chance. Rickie Lambert has goals in him and I’m sure he’ll get a chance at some point over the next few weeks.

Overall, we can be cautiously optimistic. Lets hope the team entertains us and we get the feel-good factor back with the Three Lions.

Bring on the football – and Come on England!

You can follow Carl on Twitter at @MulOwl – and don’t forget to follow @FanZone too for links to all the latest blogs.