Love for England!!!

This IS their year. So many times in a row now where they have flopped. They will make it far this year! -130 for them to make it through the group stage. 

Kind of agree with you. 

This will be the last opportunity for Gerard, Terry, Lampard.  I think Uruguay will win the group so the game with Italy will be the decider.  The three lions get their revenge for the penalty shoot out loss at the Euros

Cant wait to watch Suarez Vs England, he will own them

England are Shite and will not get out of the first round.  They will draw the Guineas, lose to Uruguay and Costa Rica.

How you feeling bout these players?

Group D is very tough.  I think Italy makes it to the round of 16, especially after the disaster of the 2010 world cup.  So that leaves one spot, where England would have to be favoured but the other two teams are not pushovers by any stretch.  Going to be a great group of games to watch.

Costa Rica are awful, so it will be between italy/uruguay/england, and i personally think england and uruguay are gonna pull out of this, i could see England come out here as the group winner too. 

Generally I'd agree but there's a quiet revolution going on in England with Liverpool, Everton, Southampton players all looking very good against world class talent. All these three clubs preach pass and move as well as the use of intelligence rather then previous headless chicken pub style speech with no thought.

Liverpool
Johnson
Sterling
Flanagan
Henderson
Sturridge
Gerrard

Everton
Stones
Baines
Barkley
Jagielka

Southampton
Lallana
Shaw

The key is the coach Roy Hodgson but I've no confidence in him. He's a dinosaur plain and simple. He'll pander to the old guard and play it safe by going for the old tried and failed players.

I note Glen Johnson amongst the Liverpool contingent and in plain terms he's bloody useless. Wayne Rooney is the other elephant n the room. Cannot understand how he is called world class! Good but not great and too static for the brave new worlds of LFC, EFC and SFC. His constant call ups for Manchester United players is getting borderline stupid as they're absolutely crap with Tom Cleverley, Chris Smalliing, Ashley Young and Danny Welbeck very unlikely to get a look in if they played for another team. JAck Wilshire of Arsenal another who does not deserve his place for sure.

I'd play a youthful 4-2-3-1 with an eye on Euro 2016 and the next world cup.

Hart GK
Flanagan RB
Baines LB
Stones CB
Cahill CB

Gerrard DM
Henderson DM
Lallana AM
Raheem Sterling AM
Ross Barkley AM

Daniel Sturridge CF

Good post

Cheers Lucrative. All about opinions but unfortunately for england, the one that counts the most is not worth much! Not just footy but every sports has some GM or coach who just won't give youth a chance or are too lazy to do any actual coaching just buying players on what they have done with previous clubs and telling them to do as they did! Where's the education and constant learning in this sport?

EFC, LFC and SFC's managers are all bright young minds with absolute faith in British talent. the only problem is it's only three managers fighting against the rising tide of foreign players and managers.

Think the team to beat are undoubtedly one of the South Americans most likely Brazil. No great players in that team but home advantage is huge. I remember in Japan/South Korea, the England players were absolutely knackered after 45 minutes in the stifling humidity and heat.

That is going to be a huge advantage against European teams. Spain looking one dimensional with no plan B whilst fuly respected. Germany a danger but like other Europeans how will they cope? Probably best chance of all the Europeans and make it between Brazil and Germany who are the favourites.

Betting wise, not much value backing favourites at this stage. Might shove a ton on Brazil and Germany to trade on Betfair but whilst I can't wait, nothing catches the eye in the outright market. GL

I would say that experience is one of the things that counts the most when it comes to the finals. Therefore, a guy like Rooney is great to have. In Premier League its good to have youth, because the season is long and its important to have young guns that can deliver all night over a random old frog that has no motivation with his career but just cashing in money like we see with many of the United players. Wilshere is a great player, and so is Rooney imo, Carroll isnt at this point and i dont think he will be chosen. 

Have to disagree about experience. With experience comes fear and of course, the tried and failed formula. What makes an average crop of established players succeed in extreme heat when they failed in previous tournaments? Experience is only valuable if there is a breakdown in communication between coach and players and/or players not having the intelligence to follow simple instructions. In those two scenarios then yes, experience means a senior player acting as the coach! Which is why Hodgson is the key man. His selection and squad culture is key.

The thing about Liverpool is Rodgers has changed the culture by changing the mentality. No fear. Pass and move. Keeping the ball. Possession is king. Nothing new but where England and English clubs are concerned, it is new. Experience is fine which is where Gerrard and Lampard come in through their leadership. But bottom line: we have failed for years with the so-called Golden Generation. They were good but not world class.

You only have to compare Hodgson and Rodgers' reigns at Liverpool and the way they went about their job to notice there is a huge difference in both management's styles. Rodgers develops and educates players. They are now understanding WHY they play this way. England winger Stewart Downing never understood nor was he technically gifted enough with the ball to understand that which was why he was sold last summer.

Hodgson fills out the team sheet with his perceived best 11 and instruct his players to play to his philosophy. Then he relies on experience to bail him out when his instructions are apparently not being executed! In his Liverpool days his press conferences were embarrassing bad showing low confidence and a bewilderment why things weren't going so well.

It's a vicious cycle and one that English football has been stuck in for a long time. Wenger changed the healthy aspect of football culture back in 1997. Now it's time for English football to change the way we approach the beautiful game we invented but lag behind the Brazilians, Germans and Spanish in innovation and philosophy. Hodgson is not the man to do that.

He will go for the experienced names in Carrick, Defoe, Johnson and Cole but those players will not contribute to the future but simply another likely early World Cup exit. All will not play a part in our future and certainly not one of them brings anything to the team the same level of influence Gerrard does.

I'm not arguing against taking the likes of Rooney or Carroll (who is different from his rivals in that he offers a physical presence and hold up option) or even Wilshire even though he has done nothing to warrant a place. Technically we're inferior to other rivals. That those players are considered automatic picks proves that. Those players are good squad options but nothing more. Maybe I'm wrong but am definitely looking elsewhere for the World Cup winners.

Can't wait to see a Italy smack them out in group play