5 ways England can become serious World Cup contenders

England National Football team

“England have the potential to win things but it is very difficult because everyone wants to win a trophy. If you play Brazil or Spain, the chances are you will lose”. - John Barnes said the other night.

When someone with 79 Three Lions cap to his name sounds so pessimistic, you know something is wrong. Well, the qualification to the finals looks pretty straight forward as they lead the group H, ahead of Ukraine and Montenegro, with two home matches to wrap up the qualification. But the story after that isn’t sweet for any English fan.

47 long years have rolled by and English football has failed to add a single silverware to their National Football Museum in Preston. Why does the team with few of the best names in the game and the most lucrative domestic league setup in the world end up trophy less year in year out at the international stage?

Although, the drought in trophies hasn’t reduced any bit of optimism among the Royal Loyal, but the chances of them disappointing next summer seems more inevitable as the finals come closer.

Can the Three Lions come up with a performance against all odds?

Roy Hodgson’s top 5 in the To-do list may just make the summer interesting for all English football Fans.

Bribe Club Managers

Arsene Wenger

The list topper has to be an assorted gift basket with French croissant and wines along with Scottish Abernathy biscuits and shilling Ales. Arsenal and Manchester United has most of the probable starters for the next World Cup. So, if Hodgson can manage to sway Arsene Wenger into giving Alex Oxlade Chamberlain, Jack Wilshere, Carl Jenkinson regular starts, he can have three fast and agile young players to look up on next summer.

Arsenal’s rooster of English players consists of the most injury-prone ones too. So, it becomes even more important, how Walcott, Wilshere and Chamberlain are utilized in the built up to Brazil ’14.

David Moyes has Ashley Young, Danny Welbeck, Tom Cleverly, Michael Carrick and Phil Jones along with the marquee man, Wayne Rooney. The much needed exposure to these players may end up boasting an unbelievable English glory. A character of Rooney’s volatility also needs to be kept under control to maintain a good atmosphere in the Three Lions dressing room next year.

Gary Cahill and Jerome Defoe’s meagre playing time must have led to Hodgson’s adding Mourinho and Villa Boas to his gift-basket list.

Formation Worries

Rooney and Wilshere: Key to England’s success

The think tank of current England coaches comprising of Hodgson, Gary Neville and Lewington need to seat down and plan out a perfect formation and approach to face the mighty Brazilian and Spanish.

A correct plan on the pitch can make the weakest of teams bring down the strongest of rivals. And England is currently above average. So, what will work for them?

4-4-2 or 4-1-3-1-1 – the options are many but the resources scant.

They can play a strong back line with a mix of youth and experience to choose from, playing right behind a screen like Carrick or even Gerrard. Few good ball controllers like Wilshere can be flanked by fast wingers like Walcott and Young with Rooney and Sturridge (going by his current form) leading the front line.

The point is, options are many and formations galore, but they need to focus on one with ample time for the players to get accustomed with it and turn the odds. Hodgson’s best bet will be to put players in the national team resembling their club roles.

Media Hullabaloo

Can Hodgson keep the media happy?

The 3rd in the To-do list for Mr. Hodgson will be to keep the British media under control. In the world of verbose media like today, even the smallest of news get more airtime than their 1966 world cup victory.

The media should be made a part of English contingent working away from the field. No player wants to go on the pitch with the fear of his fans shouting four letter words at him and his family; small hint – the word isn’t love.

Should England and it’s supporters really be disappointed at not winning a major competition? Do the media and fans over-exaggerate England’s chances just because it claims to have one of the best leagues in the world?

Maybe it is hard to come to terms with, but for many English fans, England’s chances look the same as they always have. So, the media should check themselves from illogical hype and expectations from a side with restricted capabilities, and they may just out do everyone else.

Unity and Dignity

Garrard and Lampard: Can they inspire the English team?

The 4th and probably the most concerning problem for England football, even beyond the World Cup, is their player’s inability to move beyond club football. The young English players play in the most watched domestic league in the world, thus attracting great attention towards them. The fantasy leagues add up and what follows is their inability to transform and bring in equal amount of passion to the national side.

Unlike players from Uruguay or Mexico, the World Cup is not the platform to showcase their talent for the English players and that impedes the push, which takes the team that extra mile.

Hodgson will need the players of Gerrard and Lampard’s experience to inspire the dressing room and lead them towards glory, at the same time protect them from unwanted attention.

Riding the heater

Joe Hart

The 5th on Hodgson’s To-do list will be going to the church every Sunday till 11th of December, when the group stage draw for the World Cup is supposed to take place.

Luck will play a grand role in England’s advancement through accentuating hurdles. If England manages to be in a easier group, then their chances of advancing increase.

England fans will remember Frank Lampard’s free kick goal disallowed against Germany at Bloemfontein, even my grandfather with cataract could see the ball crossing the line.

Joe Hart reading the penalty takers mind, balls hitting inside of the post instead of outside may just be the title decider for England.

Yes, England might bring home the World Cup. But they might need someone else to beat the likes of Germans and Brazilians. They need the Greek power of 2004. They need luck, period.