So it’s finally here; another World Cup, another England – Germany clash. I could barely sleep last night, the anticipation gnawing away at me until I was finally forced to get up at 7am. What the hell is it about these matches that shreds nerves and causes so much general anxiety?



Well, the history thing doesn’t help. However much Basil Fawlty didn’t want us to mention the war, the English just can’t resist it.

With a little help we won both major conflicts of the…

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1. Never to underestimate the Germans. We’re taught this at every tournament but we never accept it.



2. The English players can’t play as a team. They hardly play with pride. When was the last good performance from England at the World Cup? 1998? Or shall we claim they played well in 2002?



3. Fighting spirit only gets you so far. Australia, New Zealand, Algeria clearly have a lot of it, but none of them have progressed out of the group and the latter didn’t even score a… Continue

The consensus at the moment seems to be that Aston Villa’s Emile Heskey will partner Wayne Rooney in attack against the US.

Intriguingly, Heskey will have the number 21 on his back. Another famous forward once wore the very same number for England during our one and, so far, only successful tournament.

Can Emile Heskey do a Roger Hunt and secure a special place in English football history for himself?

Back in 1966 Roger Hunt had just completed one…

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Back in February I raised the question of Rio Ferdinand’s fitness and his continuing injury problems, asking “how long can this go on?”. Well now we have our answer.…

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