Jun 25, 2006 06:16 PM
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Introduction
Arguably the second most popular team in the world is the English football team. Especially in the recent times with the huge popularity of the English Premier league, players and fans around the world prefer England as a footballing destination. This also hieghtens the nation's craving to add to it's tally of just one world cup win till date.
History
For a nation which has club roots since the 1870s and which played it's first international way back in 1872, the showing of just one world cup over a period of 130 odd years is not very good. But, England did not participate in many world cups before the 1950s due to wage disputes with FIFA. Since 1966, the dream English team won the world cup for the first and the only time. The team led by the legendary Bobby Moore won the final 4-2 with Geoff Hurst becoming the first and only player till date to score a hat-trick in the final. Since then England has been marred by eccentricities both on and off the field that has marred their progress in the tournament. The best since then has been a semi-final exit to Germany on penalties in 1990.
Eccentricities in team selection, the eccentricity shown by David Beckham in getting sent off, the eccentric freekick taken by Ronaldinho have all contributed to the ouster of the English team in the world cup earlier than they would have liked to.
The current squad
Like at every world cup, the current squad led by David Beckham and coached by Sven Goran Errikson has inspired high hopes for the nation. Things did look very rosy till the last week of the English Premier League when the man who was tipped to take England all the way got injured. Wayne Rooney has been nothing short of sensational in his short Internation career. His exploits in the European championships nearly took England all the way, so much was expected of him in this world cup. Sadly a torn metatarsal means that he might miss the world cup altogether leaving England high and dry.
In the defence England looks sound with the likes of John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Jamie Carrager, Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole, Wayne Bridge, Phil Neville. Of the lot, Rio and Sol have looked suspect at times this year during the league, whereas Terry has been sensational for Chelsea. Ashley Cole and Wayne Bridge are just emerging from injuries. Robinson in the goal looks very stable, though you never know what will happen if David James gets in the goal.
The English midfield looks strong and in fact full of goals with players like Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Joe Cole, David Beckham who all have an eye on the goal. Jenas, Downing and Carrick bring youthful endearance to the team. The joker of the pack could be Aaron Lennon who has been a pesky customer for the defenders with his pace all season for Tottenham.
Up front is where the problem lies for England, with Rooney injured and Owen just emerging from a long injury layback, the team would need to depend on the Peter Crouch who has been anything but phenomenal in front of goal for Liverpool this season. That would mean that the midfield need to contribute with crucial goals in England has to go all the way. But, in the friendlies Crouch seems to be getting the scoring habit finally, which could be good news for England. The joker of this pack, is the 16 year old Theo Walcott, whose pace is supposed to the secret weapon for Sven. But, the surprising thing is the kid has not played even a single league game last season and to thrust him onto the biggest stage of them without any experience seems to be a far fetched plot.
The one thing that does come to my mind based on English selection is that Terry or Gerrard seem to be better inspirational captains than David Beckham. It might do England a world of good to make one of the two as captain especially keeping their exploits as captain for their respective teams Chelsea and Liverpool this season.
Predictions
Already with some strange team selections during the friendlies and the selection of Theo Walcott in the squad seem to indicate that this would be another eccentric world cup for England. Rooney's absence might be the final blow to England's world cup dream. I would expect the team to pass through to at least the quaterfinal stage, but after that it might just get a bit too tough for England. But if Gerrard and Terry can bring the same passion that they display for their clubs for England, then you never know.
Resources
If you like to follow the English team around, then these are the resources you want to take a look at:
https://thefa.com/WorldCup2006
https://englandfootballonline.com/
https://england-afc.co.uk/
