World Cup 2010

I still maintain the last two games had no bearing whatsoever on the final selection.......................World Cup squads aren't selected in the last two weeks of preparation and those "omitted" today have been very useful participants in the Austrian Training Camp and were always there in case of last minute withdrawals through injury.

merse - fair point, but you you've got to feel for them. Surely?

Loyal - compare Rooney's recent goals to games ratio for England with Heskey, with his record for England without Heskey, and you have the reason why Fabio is taking him.

I'd agree in principle that Capello had at least 20 of his squad fixed before the Mexico game, but I can't help feeling that Walcott has managed to lose his place over the past 6 months or so. He should have convinced against Egypt but too many of his final passes were inaccurate.

He was given the start against Mexico to prove that was an aberration but, yet again, he failed to consistently get past his man and pass accurately to an England player in the box. His final chance came against Japan when, in what you have correctly called a training match, he still failed to deliver the sort of performance that we saw in Croatia.

While many would say that his Croatia performance was a valid reason to take him to the World Cup, Capello must have thought that it would be pointless if, at the very time we needed it, he was unable to recreate that scintillating display. If you can't manage to play fluidly in a warm-up match against Japan, how will you manage to do so in a World Cup knockout game? I made my mind up after about 20 minutes of the Mexico match that Walcott wasn't going to South Africa: he was doing less with the ball than Danny Stevens would have done.

I saw Walcott play at St Mary's for Southampton in late 2005 and in my opinion he's regressed since then. Yes, the opposition has got better but I would have thought he would have done so too. Whether he has been "over-coached" to the point where he is no longer able to play with freedom and confidence or not is something I can't really comment on, but something has gone wrong for him to go from one of the most exciting players I've seen in the lower divisions to an England failure.

At least he's still young enough to turn it around but I wonder of Arsene Wenger is the right coach to facilitate that recovery.

Perhaps the Spurs fans have a point when they say Walcott is an Aaron Lennon without an end product?

The salient point has to be the difference in what Walcott is there to do in an Arsenal shirt and what he is there to do in an England one. Arsenal play to a discipline whereby ball retention is the number one priority, they attempt to patiently work their openings for an attempt on goal ~ even an ambitious strike from distance is supposed to be secondary to passing the ball to someone in an easier position from which to strike.

England on the other hand try to maximise the FACT that Wayne Rooney is the only true World Class player they have ~ the only English player in my opinion who would get into a "World Starting Eleven" and that his forte is receiving the ball relatively early when compared to an "Arsenal" striker and utilsing his immense power and aggression.

My personal feeling is that Aaron Lennon is better suited to be a "servant" of Rooney than Walcott.

Can England win the World Cup with only one truly World Class player? I think not, but in Fabio Capello they have a quality coach, disciplinarian and organiser who can replicate the achievement of Sir Alf Ramsey in assembling a seemingly ordinary squad that will have a very good shot at it, and who knows he might (just might) pull off the impossible.

For me, you have to acknowledge the superior all round technique of the Spanish, the traditional threat of the Brazilians, and the God awful realisation that Argentina often make a good job of World Cup Tournament football dspite that muppet of a "coach" they play under. Holland too, will go some way, if not all the way I feel.

The secret of World Cup success is to start steadily, build a momentum as the knock out stages arrive; and then get lucky!

There is little doubt in my mind that Argentina have the best 'front six' in the World Cup, but defensively they are not as good and they also boast one of the worst coaches in the international game in Mr Hand of God Maradona, a man with no qualifications to be a coach and no interest in picking the best 11 players his country has. I see the other day he is considering not playing any full-backs, instead picking four central defenders...just an example of his idiocy.

For me the Dutch are going to end their decades of frustration by winning this year's World Cup. This is the last chance for a number of their bigger stars (Van Bommel, Van der Vaart among others) and they have a few players who have not played full seasons because of injury and will be better for it, most especially Robin Van Persie, who I have already backed to be the leading goalscorer in the tournament. They have sound defensive quality as well as plenty of spark going forward, a fairly easy group to get through (Cameroon are not the team they once were) and their second round opponents (if results go as expected) should be fairly easy as well. After that, well every game is going to be a toughie...but this team I think has the ability to beat any other on its day.

Spain managed to break their serial underachievers curse last time out in Euro 2008, this time the world is going to be Oranje!

World Cup?
A bit like the Eurovision song contest - enormous expectation and then oh bugger we've come last !

We had a great qualifying compettiton but have tailed off remarkably and the continuity that was developed seems to have completely dissapeared. Yes its true taht Capello has had to experiment with the fringe players but its the form of the established Internationals that is my greatest concern. Gerrard has had a poor domestic season by his standards Ferdinand has been hampered with injuries all season and looks off the international pace by a country mile and Terry has had to deal with personal issues and his form hasn't been great.
As Merse says one truel World class player in Rooney and if he happens to get crocked then the result would be accademic, he is our only hope of any success in this tournament an its also sad that Beckham couldn't make it - past his best but still huge on quality.
Na think well need a miracle to progress further than the second stage. just not enough quality or flare and are those money rich millionaire players hungry enough?