[horsa]

You're wrong on this issue,

I wish I could believe this , but when Germany effortlessly brush Sweden aside at the weekend it’ll put this match in perspective.

To win a major competition like the World Cup you need substantially most ( if not quite all ) of the following :-

• A team that knows its “shape” and is playing fluidly with confidence
• A manager who commands authority and belief.
• More than average Luck
• The ability to win at least some penalty shoot outs

So how does England measure up ?

• Neither Rooney or Owen are fully match fit. Lampard has yet to hit the net despite the fact that he does it regularly for his club team. Gerrard is not playing in his preferred position. Beckam is not the most inspirational captain.
• England must be the only team being coached/managed by someone who has already been sacked
• Owen finally gets to play with someone (Rooney) who might feed him some decent balls and promptly twists his knee in the first minute.
• England have been eliminated from four major tournaments on penalty shootouts. They have only once been successful in all competitive penalty shootouts ( against Spain) . At the last count, (I believe) they don’t even practice it.

Need we talk about the second goal conceded that was basically from a throw in ball. ?

That apart, they have several world class players that most teams would kill for, who furthermore are( in theory) at the peak of their playing careers.
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