If England are to win, then surely Capello is the man to do it. His strict and authoritarian approach was much needed after the days of Steve Mclaren and Sven Goran Eriksson, he demands the players respect. Some of our players have not had the best of seasons, Gerrard and Terry being the two biggest, and most important examples. These two players are world class, players who can change games, and world class players tend to come good in the end. Gerrard has now got the added incentive of being the captain, the person who needs to lead the team and drive them forward, like he has done on so many occasions for Liverpool. (Remember Instanbul 05?)
How about some of the other "world class" players? Lampard has had one of his best seasons for Chelsea, scoring 27 goals, not bad for a midfielder. Rooney, of course, is widely regarded as being up there with the very best in the world, although there are concerns about his fitness after injuries near the end of the season. I prefer to look at the positive though, it means he will be fresher! Ashley is arguably the best left back in the world although some would say it's not even arguably. However much you dislike him as a man, you can't say he is not one amazing player, who despite a long time out injured for Chelsea, came back near the end of the season and began to get back to his best.
They are the players that would be classed as World Class, 5 of them, the number Alan Hansen one said you need to win a world cup, as long as they are all playing at their best. The other players need to be up to a good standard as well though. Starting with the goalkeeper. This is an area we have probably been getting a bit too much stick with. It would be great to have an obvious number one, but we don't. None of our goalkeepers are world class, in the way Buffon of Italy and Cassillas of Spain are, but they are still good keepers. David James is experienced, yet sometimes can be a bit erratic, although he is a brilliant shot stopper. Robert Green is also prone to the odd error, but on his day can be brilliant, although is a little less experienced. Joe Hart, on his form this season, is the best of the three I would argue, but his lack of international experience counts against him and is very likely to be the obvious number one for the 2012 Euro's. James played most of qualifying, so I imagine Capello will start with him as number one.
Ledley King looks set to start next to John Terry in defence, in place of the injured Rio Ferdinand and despite worries about this new partnership and Kings long term injury problems I saw a very interesting stat...England have lost none of the 13 games Terry and King have played together. This was a long time ago (2004 era), but if they can continue this then it would be good! If it wasn't for his injury problems, King would probably be considered on the same level, if not higher than Terry and Ferdinand, so I don't think we need to worry there. Capello has managed to convince Jamie Carragher to come out of international retirement to join the team, which is brilliant, someone who can cover all the defences positions, and do it well. It would surprise me if later on in the tournament against some stronger attacking teams he actually replaces club mate Johnson at right back. Johnson is brilliant at going forward, but his defending abilities are a little suspect.
Hopefully Barry will be fit in time for the Algeria game as he will give the team extra cover at the back, but I imagine Capello will start with Gerrard and Lampard in the centre on the games he is not available, with Joe Cole on the left and Lennon on the right. Joe Cole scraped in to the squad on his performances in the friendly's against Mexico and Japan and looks like he has returned to form at the right time, and could well be in the starting line up. He has been given the number and eleven in the squad and was the only player to player 90 minutes in today's match with the Platinum Stars,the final game before it gets serious.
Up front, I would love Rooney to play on his own, with Gerrard just behind, similar to the role he has with Torres and Liverpool, but realistically, it hasn't been tried at all, so it would be a big surprise if it did happen. The more likely option is Rooney and Heskey, with Crouch or Defoe coming on later on in the match. Heskey doesn't get many goals, but that isn't his role, he is there to hold up the ball for Rooney, who scores a lot more goals with Emile alongside. Crouch will then come on and get a goal himself, as always seems to happen.
I think the squad is there, although we haven't been convincing in the warm up matches, but nor have some of the other teams. (Portugal drew 0-0 with Cape Verde. France have only won 1 out of their last 5 matches.) There is a chance we can do it, although Brazil and Spain are obviously the favourites, but in a tournament, anything can happen. You can never write off Germany and Italy. The game against the USA will be the biggest challenge, but we should finish top of the group, which would then leave is with a probable match against Serbia, Ghana or Australia. Then comes the quarter finals, will the usual quarter final heartbreak occur? It looks like we may have a much easier game than we have in previous tournaments, possibly facing Mexico or the hosts South Africa. Then it starts to get tricky, with a possible game against the Netherlands or Brazil in the semi final, anything can happen then though.
Anything less than a semi final would be seen as a failure for the team. A team whose core players are facing possibly their last chance to really shine on the biggest stage. Gerrard, Terry, Lampard. This is your time to show the world what you can do.
Good luck boys, and for all the fans...
Believe.