England: 99 Problems But Brazil Ain’t One

Wednesday, April 9th, 2014

England manager Roy Hodgson currently has the unenviable task of choosing the 23 players to represent England in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil this summer. With the world watching and so many fans rooting for England to win, we certainly wouldn’t want that task – let’s hope he doesn’t let us down. The 23 man squad will be announced alongside 7 standby players on the 13th May, when the list will be submitted to FIFA.

After England’s win against Denmark earlier this year, it’s rumored Hodgson will look towards younger players after their strong performances. Over half of the players in the current squad are under 23 – a bit of a risk for England, but potentially one with a positive outcome. Speaking to FIFA, Jermaine Defoe shared his enthusiasm for the World Cup – “I think England have a great chance because I think there’s a great mix between the experienced players and the young players”. England’s younger players are clearly stepping up their game in the hopes of getting a seat on the plane to Brazil this summer.

England has famously lost out in the latter stages of international competitions in the past. Whether you blame poor performance on our part, or the sheer skill of the competition, either way we still have a habit of losing. Having only won the World Cup once in 1966, maybe this will be our year?

England have been given a tough draw, with a challenging first game against Italy. However, if England make it through the first couple of matches, confidence in their success is high. Defoe went on to emphasise the importance of England hitting the ground running in the World Cup – “There’s a hard first game against Italy, but I think if we get off to a good start then you just never know”. England’s first game will be played in the Amazonian city of Manaus where the heat and humidity is set to be a challenge for English players.

Hodgson plans to base the England team in Miami for warm weather training, allowing the players to become acclimatised to the heat before the first World Cup match. Critics have suggested that Miami, although warm, isn’t a suitable environment to acclimatise to the much more extreme conditions the players will face in Manaus.

The recently released official England World Cup song in support of Sport Relief certainly isn’t going to win us anything. The charming vocal talents of er, Gary Lineker and the odd Spice Girl – supervised by Take That’s Gary Barlow – leave much to be desired. Let’s hope it’s not representative of England’s fast approaching performance on the pitch.

With the countdown to the Brazil World Cup in June well underway, excitement is building amongst football fans waiting to see how far England will go. BBC Sport’s Ben Smith summarised the World Cup nicely – “Will there be problems? Yes…But forget all that for a minute, because anyone fortunate enough to be a part of this World Cup will be swept along by Brazil’s overriding passion for the game, the enthusiasm of the people and the jaw-dropping beauty of their country”.

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