World Cup 2006


Can England win a second World Cup?
 By Chris White
 Writing for Yahoo! Sport
So little ole' England have been seeded second only inches away from the mighty five time winners Brazil. And the predictably optimistic English public agree, making England third favourites at 8/1, only marginally behind Argentina (7/1) and, again, Brazil (3/1). But is the English and FIFA's predictions totally misguided or even unfounded?

If England are to go all the way in Germany 2006, then they will realistically have to beat at least two or three of the very top teams. If analysis of previous World Cup matches against the cream is anything to go by, then England are just about assured a quarter-final spot.

Let's start off with the top-seeded countries. Argentina. No problem. In South Korea 2002, we tore them apart (with a dodgy penalty) and have an unblemished record against them. If only they hadn't cheated. We've beaten them on three occasions and lost only once, when Maradona was playing netball on their way to winning the 1986 Mexico World Cup.

The news is even better if we ever draw France. England have only played them twice in the finals and stuffed them both times - 2-0 and 3-1. The only trouble is the last time was in 1982. When France were rubbish. And now they're quite good. It's also a similar story against Mexico (played once, cruising to a 2-0 victory in 1966).

Surprisingly, our record against the hosts Germany is also pretty good. English supporters may feel they have a psychologically hold over their old foes, but the English record is P4 W1 D2 L1 F7 A6. Mathematically, marginally ahead.

The only trouble is that Germany can kick a ball from 12 yards better than England, having won 4-3 on penalties in Italy 1990 after the game was locked at one-each.

But it's not so good against those perennial bridesmaids Spain, who have never progressed past the quarter-finals. Their record is an embarrassment of early exits, humiliating defeats and agonising missed opportunities, but they're still undefeated to England in three World Cup matches.

England should be even more wary of Italy and Brazil. The gung-ho, Keeganesque Anglos have traditionally always struggled to adapt to playing the beautiful game like chess and have never beaten Italy in four attempts, which includes the preliminary group stages.

England have never beaten Brazil, losing in 1958, 1970 and, most famously, four years ago when Ronaldinho lobbed in the winner from the half-way line, giving Seaman his best comedy moment pre or post They Think It's All Over.

Apart from the top seeds, England have very little to fear from the rest of the teams in the tournament. The Netherlands have never beaten them in the tournament proper, they're undefeated against Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic, but probably better despite being half a country) and Portugal have turned them over only once in four World Cup matches. And that was nearly twenty years ago.

There is more chance of England fouling up against what is normally considered inferior opposition. There is no way that one football loving American will let the English forget a certain 1-0 victory in the 1950 tournament. England had Finney, Wright, Ramsey, Mannion and Mortensen.

The US strolled out with Springthorpe, Milne, Athienos and Decker. They even made a film about it called The Game Of Their Lives released earlier this year. Most bizarrely, it was never brought out in the UK. England have little to fear against the likes of Poland, Sweden or Switzerland and they know absolutely nothing about footballing giants such as Togo, Trinidad and Tobago and the Ivory Coast.

Coming down to the crunch, if it went off the amount of points England had collected in all the matches they've ever played then they are ranked fifth. If it was based on the number of times a team had finished in the Top Four, England are ranked seventh.

Either way and most depressingly for England fans, it looks like the usual cry-into-the-pint quarter-final heartbreak is a true reflection. The only saving grace is that England do indeed suffer World Cup agony, unlike a team like Spain who will be gladly thumped in all their games and suffer an ignomious exit.

Out of 17 World Cups, England has qualified for the final tournament 11 times. They did not even enter the first three competitions of 1934, 1938 and 1942.

Now this is where it gets painful for any fan of Chris Waddle or Stuart Pearce (look back to Italy 1990 for those with short memories). England have met the eventual winners in the knock-out stages of the tournament four times and twice they've been eliminated on penalties. Ouch.

So it seems England's best bet would be to practice penalties. They should be advised not to let Beckham anywhere near the ball as he's twice fluffed from the spot in one major tournament, only the second player in English history.

If only Lampard, who's yet to have a spot kicked saved, and Rooney, who has never missed a penalty, could take a kick for 11 men. They'd win the World Cup every time.