World Cup Fever: Does England Have a Chance?

It is 48 years since England last won the World Cup and that was on Home Turf. The final was a Hotly contested affair between England and their bitter rivals West Germany. The match was sent into Extra Time by a West Germany Goal from a free kick that was controversial.The First of England's Extra Time Goals was also controversial but it is the Scenes from the Dying moments of the game that will always be remembered.

"And here comes Hurst. He's got... some people are on the pitch, they think it's all over. It is now! It's four!".

BBC commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme

Since then England have never made the Final and have only managed 4th place and that was back in 1990. Last time out in Africa they only managed 13th place being dumped out in round 2. and that was their worst ever result apart from the three times they did not qualify at all.

This year the World Cup is being held in Rio, Brazil in what will be the hottest conditions England and most of the other teams have ever played in. It will be hard and the warm up matches have been little comfort to fans as the last two were draws.

Roy Hodgson has chosen allot of young blood for this years tournament. This could be a good thing as aging legs may not fair as well as young ones in the heat. There are a few old faces in the team so he can still field some great experience as this will count.

Hodgson will have to make some wise decisions when it comes to his First Team and Subs. There will have to be plenty of changes made during games with the heat tiring players quickly.

The players have spent allot of time training in heat to prepare them but they will not know exactly how there bodies will react until they are playing in the tournament.

Good Luck England

It's Time To Bring It Home

We've Waited To Long

With a lot of young and inexperienced players in the team will they be able to cope with the pressures of a Tournament as big as the World Cup?

Only time will tell but the presence of the older experienced players will be of great help the the Young Blood in the team as they have players to look up to and aspire to be. Every member of the team will want to play well and give their all and of course win the World Cup.

There may well be some nerves and they could cause players to make mistakes but that is football and as we all know anything can happen in 90 minutes.

Lets just hope we get through without having to face the dreaded penalty shoot out.

England would have been looking for at least a draw if not a repeat of 2-1 win over Italy in 2012.

Within 35 minutes it all seamed like it was going wrong when Italy's Claudio Marchisio found the back of the net. However England came back strong and within 2 minutes they were back on level terms. This was how the first half finished.

The second half would prove to be England's downfall with Mario Balotelli putting Italy back in front just 5 after the restart. England tried but just could not get a reply in.

Although the score was not on England's side the team played well and had more shots at goal with more on target then Italy.

There were a few players that could have played better with Rooney seaming to slip back into a defensive position now and again instead of being upfront to receive the ball.

If they play like this in the other two matches they may have a chance of qualifying but I cannot see them topping the group.

Update

At half time in Sau Paulo it's not looking good for England. After a first half goal from Suarez England are 1-0 down and looking like they could be heading home.

They have been playing well and had a few chances but none that have gone in. They need to play their harts out in the second half and get themselves on the score sheet and close the Uruguayans down when they have the ball.

After the full time whistle England have a mountain to climb. Rooney may have scored his first ever world cup goal but that was not enough as Suarez replied to make it 2-1 Uruguay. This means that England are sat at the bottom of the group with no points while the other three teams have 3. They need Italy to win both of their next two games and they will have to win their last one as well. If Italy draw their next game then England are going home.