Although the announcement of England's World Cup squad was handled very badly, there were not many surprises in the make-up of the final twenty three players selected. Well, perhaps there was at least one. Arsenal midfielder - and scorer of a hat trick against Croatia in the qualifying campaign - Theo Walcott was excluded. His place went to Manchester City wide man Shaun Wright-Phillips. And herein lies the dilemma for the hopeful supporters of the England soccer team. After the starting XI, there is a noticeable drop in quality among the rest of the squad. Wright-Phillips doesn't even get a much game time for his club side and has shown time and time again that he is not up to the standards needed to play football at international level. So, the question remains: can England really win the 2010 World Cup Final? Ok, in centre halves Rio Ferdinand and John Terry, midfielders Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard and, most certainly, forward Wayne Rooney - England do have some top class footballers. These are the type of players that almost any of the very best 6 or seven countries on the planet would pay good money to have in their team. Unfortunately, excellent players don't necessarily make up a fantastic team. It needs more than just that and England have clearly shown that they are missing a certain vital spark that will turn them into world beaters at the 2010 World Cup Finals. The most recent international matches against Mexico and Japan have shown England to be ponderous in possession and nervy when they don't have the ball. The result of this has been annoyance and frustration among the most talented of the squad, leading to tactical errors and stupid mistakes. Despite this, however, England were victorious in both matches and on the attack, they always look likely to score. Rooney, Lampard, Gerrard, even Aaron Lennon or Peter Crouch are all very capable of scoring at this level. It is this ability to win even when playing badly that will see England easily into the knockout stages of the finals of the the World Cup. However, when they come up against the best teams - Brazil, say, or Spain - their lack of composure will result in England being knocked out. It pains me to say it, but England are never going to win the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament. I'd love to be proved wrong especially as the Final falls on my birthday and that would be the perfect birthday gift, but I don't think I will be.
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Although the announcement of England's World Cup squad was handled appallingly badly, there were very few surprises in the make-up of the final 23 players selected. Well, ok, perhaps there was one.
Matt Greene suggests finding all your World Cup 2010 news at World Cup Now and recommends that - if England don't win the Final - you go to Find Me A Gift to find birthday gifts to cheer him up.
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