Its all well and good giving fringe players a run out in friendlies but I don't think England can afford to do that right now. When you look at, say Spain, Germany and Italy, nearly all their top players play for one or two clubs (with a few notable exceptions) - Spain mostly at Barca and Madrid, Germany mostly with Munich and BVB, and the spine of the Italy team seems to be Juventus. Most of their top players play together at club level playing high level club football of a good quality. England's players I would argue don't have that. Our first choice centre half pairing of Cahill and Jagielka hardly has CL pedigree in spades (I guess you could make a decent argument for Cahill but definitely not Jagielka). The likes of Townsend and Lallana have never played in such competitions. Where are the combinations going to come from if not from the clubs? Terry and Ferdinand were a good pairing for us but for me they were an exception to the rule, and besides how long were they firmly established as England's first choice centre backs for? You can argue for a lack of quality meaning that there has not been two natural successors so that Roy could say "These are the two best centre backs England has, they play" but also I think there is too much pressure for Roy to experiment in some ways. If he comes out and says he knows his best team then complaints will be made about him ignoring form players from 'lesser' clubs, but at the same time there is a concern that he can't seem to, at the minute, come out and state his best team so close to a World Cup. Given that nobody seems to know England's best team right now then we should be using these friendlies to find it, injuries permitting.
When was the last time a European country won the WC in S America? England lost to Chile and to Germany which bodes very badly for our prospects. A S American team will win the WC.
I wasn't expecting to win it with the players we have at the moment,no world class players in the team,we will struggle to get through the group stage imo,i'm not expecting us to
They are nowhere near the 1970 Brazil team,but then no one are,don't think we will see anyone like them again,although Brazil aren't great,they are good
Balanced, workman like, effective but lacking in quality compared to previous exciting Brazil teams. I prefer Argentina, they have fabulous attacking players but a crap defence, good to watch but no chance of winning.
I've not seen Brazil play since the Confeds but judging them on those performances, they look really good and would be a worthy winner if they continued that form. My pick is Germany though, definitely think they'll be the team to beat. Neuer, Hummels, Badstuber (if he gets fit), Lahm, Schweinseiger, Gundogan, Kroos, Gotze, Reus, Ozil, Muller, Drazler, Gomez, are all fantastic players (may have missed a few), Reus being the pick of the bunch in my opinion. If they hit top form, I don't think anyone will match them.
I will be suprised if a European team win in South America,the climate is against them,more suited to South American and African teams
Tevez, Messi and Ageuro, if Ardiles was their manager he would play all three with lavezzi and Di Maria on the wings.
Brazil is gonna be my team,on their day they are unbeatable,still love watching the video of the 1970 world cup,stand out moments,Bobby Moore's tackle,and Banks save,from Pele,who was already celebrating a goal
Good luck to the poor sods in FIFA's PR department trying to make a World Cup without Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but with Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez appealing... N/A Uruguay 1930: Uruguay Brazil 1950: Uruguay Chile 1962: Brazil Argentina 1978: Argentina
The only thing that lets Germany down really is their strikers, if this was anywhere other than South America they would be my favourites
