A summary of England’s progress so far – a more optimistic approach

England were the winners of Group B; it needs to be said as many times as possible lest we forget. Although the teams they faced were not Brazil nor were they Argentina they were not walk-overs. As such, England should be congratulated on winning the group.

Their fist game was against dogged South American opposition and, despite obvious nerves, they managed to pick up a much-needed victory. In the second game, they left it a bit late but again looked the much better team. In their final game they needed a draw to guarantee top-spot and this is what they got. If England keep getting what they need, they will win the tournament. And so on to the criticisms…

The England manager has been criticised for not bringing on Theo Walcott in the latter stages of the Sweden game but in my opinion he was right to do so. The youngster is a surprise element (and will be to most England fans!). Nobody really knows what he does or how he does it and this applies to all of England’s potential opponents. The seventeen-year-old may be the next Rooney or he could be extremely overrated; either way opponents will be worried by the incredible hype surrounding such an unknown player. Therefore, however good he is, Walcott’s greatest asset at the moment is that he is a surprise element and if the played a meangingless 20 minutes against Sweden, this would have been lost.

The England manager has been criticised for not bringing enough strikers but again the Swede can be defended. Eriksson may not have many strikers at his disposal but he certainly has an abundance of defensive midfielders. What good is this? The answer lies in three numbers: 4-5-1. If England play 4-5-1 with any one of their defensive midfielders and preferably Rooney up-front, then they will have a more attacking team than if they played 4-4-2. The reason for this is that both Gerrard and Lampard, two of the best attacking midfielders in the World and who scored a total of 43 goals between them last season, will be free to attack. Throw in Joe Cole and there is suddenly many areas that goals can come from (including the right foot of Beckham and the head of either Rio or Terry).

Criticisms have also been flying in at Rooney because he failed to perform a miracle in the Sweden game. However, a miracle wasn’t needed and a quick look at Rooney’s record shows that when he needs to perform, he does.

So, if Rooney finds form and England play 4-5-1( ideally with Carrick but Hargreaves is acceptable) then they certainly have a chance. They haven’t played as badly as the British media would have you believe; in the next round they face Ecuador and then probably Holland if they win – both of whom they can beat – this takes them to the semis where anything is possible.

Although this is extraordinarily optimistic, I felt that ,with all the negatives circulating around the England team, a look on the brighter side was much needed.

Sky Bet have England at 7.50 (13/2).