England? The semi-finals would be a great achievement

Written by JR Wednesday, 10 March 2010 18:50

England World Cup Blog

We have a guest post from Wrighty7 this evening. Wrighty7 has been blogging about all things Arsenal for a good few years now and has built up a large following. His articles attract comments from far and wide and he is well respected  by Arsenal fans (as well as other clubs' fans I dare say!). You can visit his blog here.

Wrighty7 is also a keen England fan, here are his thoughts on England's chances at the upcoming World Cup Finals.

So it's World Cup year again and as per usual the England team will get the best support of all the nations participating.

 
You cannot knock the England faithful. Where ever the World Cup is being staged, the England fans will flock in their droves.

 
I'm sure the expectation levels of the travelling English will be high, as it will be to most of those remaining in England watching on the television, but I have the horrible feeling that maybe some are expecting a little too much.

This may sound simplistic; England will have a chance for as long as they in the competition. But that logic also goes for every other nation involved too.

 
I think realistically England should look to reach the semi-finals. Call me a pessimist but in my eyes that would be a great tournament for us.

I don't think we have enough about us to win the World Cup. The likes of Spain and Brazil are just too strong and are probably streets ahead the rest in world football.

Of course it's up to England to upset the odds but I think the two I've mentioned are the teams to beat. And I'm not sure when it comes to the crunch we can.

For me the Spanish are the pioneers of international football at the moment. I said that they and Brazil are above the rest, by far, but I'd say that Spain are the better of the two.

Pound for pound England would match Spain for effort and endeavour (the two best qualities England have always had) but the difference would be the technical side that Spain have to offer.

Currently, and for the foreseeable future, this Spanish team are the best at keeping the ball in international football. A vital quality for obvious reasons. England cannot match these ball-retaining skills and I think that is the reason we will fall short when we come up against a side who keep the ball better than us.

Spain will be the team to beat and in all honestly who would get in their side from the England squad? I think one player. And it's not Wayne Rooney. Although I hate to say it the only man I could see getting in the Spanish starting eleven would be Ashley Cole. Simply because he is the best left-back in the world.

Rooney is the main man for England and sadly I couldn't see him getting a sniff in Spain's starting eleven. That's not to say I think he isn't a class player though. Its just that Spain's strikers are better.

That is what we are up against.    

Fabio Capello has done a marvellous job for England. I don't think there are any English managers out there who could have done as decent a job as he has.

People will say that it should be an English man in charge of the national side, part of me agrees, but in all fairness it should be the best man for the job, regardless of nationality.

We have to move with the times. Whilst we English will always battle to the end, those qualities will never be enough to see us crowned world champions again. Not in my lifetime anyway.

What we need is to improve at grass-roots level. Use the ball more and not just concentrate mainly on hard-work.

In the main the English are technically inferior with a football compared to a lot of other countries and that will be our undoing at this World Cup.

Don't get me wrong, I hope I am proved wrong and forced to eat humble pie, but I don't hold a lot of hope for our chances in this upcoming World Cup.

I'm not building my expectations up the levels that most other English people will do but as I've said, a semi-final would be a great, and realistic, finish.

Wrighty7  

| More...

Comments (1)

Robert Wills said:

Hi Hope the England appears in semi final and final i already get the World Cup 2010 tickets just because of England.

March 13, 2010