Sports Discussion

[R.?]

Hopefully The Netherlands will win the championship. I'm really looking forward to the start of the championship. I think Holland has got a great team. So we sure got a chance. Argentina has a very good team as well, good strikers. But their coach is less capable, I think.

[corry]

Squad numbers are always a good hint to who will start in the first game so here's England, few shocks are Peter Crouch and Joe Cole handed numbers 9 and 11 so they both look like starters, everyone else seems to be Predictable with Aaron Lennon taking David Beckham's right wing number 7 .

Also with Joe Cole and Aaron Lennon starting on the wings it looks like Gerrard and Lampard back in the middle together?

Full England World Cup squad numbers
1. David James
2. Glen Johnson
3. Ashley Cole
4. Steven Gerrard
5. Rio Ferdinand
6. John Terry
7. Aaron Lennon
8. Frank Lampard
9. Peter Crouch
10. Wayne Rooney
11. Joe Cole
12. Robert Green
13. Stephen Warnock
14. Gareth Barry
15. Matthew Upson
16. James Milner
17. Shaun Wright-Phillips
18. Jamie Carragher
19. Jermain Defoe
20. Ledley King
21. Emile Heskey
22. Michael Carrick
23. Joe Hart

[swca92]

England's world cup campaign analysis

Goalkeeper - We have three unproven goalkeepers. Robert Green is fairly inexperienced at international level and has shown occasional failibility at West Ham, especially on crosses and set-pieces. However he's a top shot stopper and is probably our no.1. David James is another good shot stopper and has plenty of experience, but he's 39 and is never too far from a a calamitous error. Joe Hart is I feel our best keeper, but is only 22 and has only played twice for England. Goalkeeper is a weakness of the England team, and something opposition will look to exploit.

Defence - We have one of the best left backs in the world in Ashley Cole who is offensively and defensively excellent, but he's just come back from an injury and may not be fully match fit. His replacement is Stephen Warnock who has only played once for England and didn't look very good at Aston Villa. At centre-half Rio Ferdinand is world class but is over 30 and has been injured most of the season, while John Terry lost the captaincy, is slow and I feel vastly overrated as a player as he makes a lot of errors and against pace resorts to grabbing and holding which will be punished severely by world cup referees. The back-ups are Ledley King who's a great player but can't train due to an ongoing knee problem and has played for England once in four years, and Jamie Carragher who is 31, had a poor season and was surprisingly wooed by Capello to come back from international retirement. Glen Johnson is our right back and is good offensively, but defensively is lacking and was skinned constantly by the Kazakhstan right winger when we played them last summer. We don't keep many clean sheets, and we don't have players in form in defence.

Midfield - Our left wing spot is up for grabs, with either a converted central midfielder in Steven Gerrard playing there or Joe Cole, who's hardly played this season. In the middle we have Frank Lampard who's been underwhelming for England mostly, and our holding midfielder place is a lottery. Gareth Barry won't be fit till our second match, James Milner was unconvincing against Mexico while Michael Carrick was rotten against Mexico and has been disappointing since the 2009 Champions League final. We have Aaron Lennon on the right, who has the pace of a tracer bullet but is coming back from injury. Shaun Wright-Phillips is cover, but he's never shown much for England. Against Mexico in a friendly the midfield couldn't keep the ball, and lacked cohesion throughout. Mexico had 66% possession aginst us, which proves how poor we were. Good teams will embarrass us on current form, we have to keep the ball much better to do well.

Forwards - Wayne Rooney was superb this season and scored over 30 goals, but got a nagging injury at the end of the season and looked out of touch in the friendlies. His strike partner will be either Emile Heskey who scores less than a 50 year old virgin and the pace of a pregnant camel, but holds up the ball up well, or 6 ft 8 Peter Crouch who has a great strike rate for England and is impossible to beat in the air, but he lacks pace and doesn't have a great understanding with Rooney. Jermain Defoe is the back-up and scores lots of goals, but doesn't contribute to the midfield or defence and is only 5 ft 4, meaning he won't win any long b***.

To sum up, I feel we're overrated. Egypt and Mexico have outplayed us for vast parts of matches in the past year and we don't keep the ball well enough. Defensively we don't keep enough clean sheets and Rooney is carrying us up front. We have a good draw, but unless we improve dramatically I don't see us going beyond the quarter-final.

[phil1993]

On the whole I agree. I just feel that we don't have anyone who can come off the bench and make an impact. Personally though, I'd leave Lennon on the bench and then bring him on in thr 70th minute and just ruin the defence with his pace.

[JoostLamers]

Brazil had the oldest selection for the World Cup, Ghana has got the youngest.

Ajax-player Eriksen is the youngest player, and David James is the oldest player

[corry]

I dont feel its all loom and gloom we England fans always see the negatives but really we have a great squad. However i would like Terry to of stayed as our captain hes a natural at it.

Ive never been a fan of Ferdinand and especially not as Englands captain i would prefer michael dawson or ledley kind as i think if ledley king had stayed fit he would be our number one defender and captain hes amazing.

Midfield i feel is our strong point we have amazing wingers and central mid fielders if they could play together my concern is no holding players with such an attack minded midfield.

Strikers well Rooney is probably top 3 strikers in the world thhis year easy and i dont care how crouch plays he scores more goals for england on average than anyone even rooney as long as he scores thats fine with me

[Richards19]

I was gutted about Federer yesterday, that semi-final streak is amazing and it would have been brilliant if he could carry it on. Also, the number one record would have been great too.

I think Nadal will win the whole thing now - I don't think he'll fall to Soderling again. Unfortunately.

Yeah, agree with you, and also Soderling needs to beat Berdych in the semis, this guy is very strong...

As a Federer fan I'm disappointed because he'll not beat the Sampras' record for the moment (number of week as number 1)
Obviously it's happen only if Nadal win next sunday, hopes he will not win the title
Also the season is not yet over Wimbly and the US Open are still to come

[iceman1]

Lahm's amazing goal

[corry]

Lahm captain now? btw nice goal

[Edi96]

Drogba and Ferdinand will miss the World Cup! A real shame!

[Coopz]

Ferdinand didn't have a great season anyway, just as long as King stays fit, we'll be okay.

[corry]

Agreed mate

[phil1993]

France lost 1-0 to China in a friendly yesterday

[iceman1]

Robben 's world cup is over during the Hungary game which Holland won 6-1 after a fantastic performance from Robben. He strained his knee during a backheel pass

[JoostLamers]

Robben 's world cup is over during the Hungary game which Holland won 6-1 after a fantastic performance from Robben. He strained his knee during a backheel pass

Only speculations, nothing's for sure yet...