Every four years Every four years there are the indicative signs that a World Cup draws

nearer. Every time players age is scrutinised, as youthful energy, but also naivety battles older experience, but also can Andrea Pirlo actually sprint? This draws questions on their ability to perform on the biggest stage. Does Frank Lampard still have a role to play in the centre of Englands midfield or is it the time for Fabian Delph to emerge from seemingly nowhere to claim a place on the plane. Aston Villa fans keep telling me that its not only Aston Villa fans that think the latter. Every time a key player stays down that little bit too long after receiving a late challenge fans wonder whether the World Cup dream is over. Christian Benteke was ruled out of the tournament for popular underdogs Belgium whilst Radamel Falcao, given no chance only weeks ago, appears on the verge of a recovery that makes you marvel at modern medicine and drug laws in Columbia. Every year there is that website that lets you enter your predicted results in a magical spreadsheet. The first time you do it England worm their way through tough game after tough game. You even enter draws for knockout stage games, in your head thinking England will win on penalties and then you realise the spreadsheet isnt that clever. You finish your first run through and England come out victorious, 4-2 to Germany in the final in Rio, or should it be 5-1. You even try giving England a 37-0 victory over Costa Rica in the group, just to have a little chuckle at their updated goal difference in the table. The World Cup is a truly unparalleled sporting spectacle, but for every fan who will predict their nation will pull off the impossible and lift the Jules Rimet trophy on July 13th, there is a fan who has heard it all before. They are the fan that, as the draw was made in December, had already foreseen Englands placement into the group of death alongside France, USA and the hosts Brazil. But wait, that didnt actually happen. In fact, none of those sides sit alongside us in Group D (D for death didnt you know?) I will dive deeper into the fineries of the draw later, but needless to say some fans were not impressed. If I believed some people, England would be playing their opener against Italy in 140% humidity. Conditions which apparently, although unplayable and possibly illegal for English players, the Italians players are keenly anticipating, seeing it as a full on pampering session with the sauna like conditions combining luxuriously with their micro-massaging kit. It is a group that has led fans to remark that Nikes release of the new 90 World Cup Kit is effectively spending 30 a game. They clearly havent tried fitting into a boys XL. Despite all this, a variety of opinions is one of the reasons we love football, the other being witnessing Man Uniteds decline happen in super speed. Views are usually strongly held, but this only enhances the enrichment of a debate as to whether Gerard can be similarly effective for England as he is for Liverpool in a role Brendan Rodgers seems to have created just for his pal Stevie to run less and kick the ball more. Optimism, is that even allowed? I come down on the side of optimism. Not even cautious optimism, more like 37-0 is a reasonable prediction for the Costa Rica game optimism. A quadruple hat-trick would no doubt give the in-form Daniel Sturridge a pretty good platform for the golden boot, although I reckon itd still be closely fought with Luis Suarez, despite his inevitable 2 game ban for actually being

part rodent after all. In all seriousness, I do believe England will win the World Cup and now that I have lost the majority of my readers I will endeavour to justify this bold claim somewhat humorously. A Tough Draw? I have mentioned the draw already and accept having both Italy and Uruguay is not an easy task. I mean a simple glance at Frances draw of Ecuador, Switzerland and Honduras does make me question whether FIFA warrant their squeaky clean, unblemished reputation. Beating both Italy and Uruguay does seem like a significant challenge, but it is important to consider that we dont need to. We dont even need to beat one of them. If England draw their first two games and Italy draw to Uruguay, England need one of the two best results against Costa Rica, not at all unachievable. If Italy beat Uruguay or vice versa in this scenario, all England would need to do is beat Costa Rica 1-0. The extra 36 goals would simply be icing on the cake. Much like in tennis, after negotiating this tricky section, the draw opens up for England and there is less grunting. In the Round of 16 we face either the winner or runner-up of Group C (Columbia, Greece, Ivory Coast or Japan.) Whilst every sane person will have come to the same conclusion of please, please be Greece you have to think all those teams are beatable. It doesnt even hugely matter if England top the group. Even finishing third in the group means we get moved to the Europa league, which we didnt qualify for in 2008. Wait We can dare to dream The last 8, if teams perform as predicted, should contain most of the top 8 teams in the world (minus Switzerland #7, really how has that happened, and add in England #12, soon to be #1) I say this to make the point that, unless Iran upset Messi and Argentina in the group, the quarter finals will be stacked with world class opposition for England. The draw suggests England will face Brazil or Spain. Those fans I mentioned before will be glaring at me right now, giving me eyes that say, youve had your fun but this dream is over. They will say it is unwinnable, as in their head unwinnable is a good word to use, I would say insurmountable. They would describe either a loss to the samba style of a nation that has a football on its flag through a series of indirect free-kicks that float over David Seamans head. Or, a loss in a game in which England muster up an unthinkable and previously considered impossible 0% possession against Tika-Taka football which Robbie Savage confirmed in BBC the build up was no longer effective. The video of how Alex Oxlade Chamberlain managed to not even touch the ball from Englands kick-offs will have gone viral on YouTube under the title Kieran Gibbs epic fail. Clearly I would debate these outcomes. Again I do not question the difficulty of these matchups and in my eyes the potential of England vs. Brazil in Brazil is simply mouth-watering. I can already picture a recreation of that timeless post-match image of Pele embracing Bobby Moore in Mexico 1970. Fast forward 44 years and 100 thousand camera shutters flash to capture Neymar embrace Phil Jones in a moment that transcends football. Yet somehow in not one of the millions of images is Phil Jones pulling an even vaguely human face and not one angle makes Neymars hairstyle seem appropriate for impressionable young children to witness.

In all seriousness, I would choose these match ups over another quarter-final with Germany. It would be too painful to witness a Jordan Henderson rip snorter crash into the back of the net only for Manuel Neuer to wander back, pick up the ball and claim hed saved it. Meanwhile the 7th official would stare intently across the goal line, crouched ready to pounce instantly any moment a decision was required, as they do almost too readily these days. Thinking as far as the semi-finals is no mean feat. There is a whole other realm of possibilities to have to consider. Will suspensions catch-up with England and will ITV employ Geoff Shreeves to break this news in a new feature that involvs slow-mo post match interviews to help pinpoint the moment a footballers dream is shattered. Will injuries have ravaged the squad to the point where England fans appreciate that Chris Smallings versatility in more important than the ability to pass the ball. Will Gary Neville have taken over from Roy Hodgson and been placed into the position of Manager-Player-Commentator-WAG? And does any of this matter, because we all know John Terry will be lifting the trophy aloft in the end. Personally, Im actually pretty excited