Mama Smurf
My penis is still intact.
Brazil are obviously favourites, but let's not get carried away here. I don't think anyone was ever thinking Brazil's attack would be anything but amazing, the reason they might not win is the defence (not that it's terrible, just beatable).
Well it's a combination of things. With a fit team/squad, this is by far the best group of players we've had in the last 15 years, maybe more. There's not a weak position really. We also have players like Joe Cole, Wright-Philips, Crouch etc we can throw on to swing a game.
The left wing problem has been mostly sorted. We still don't have a great left footed winger, but Joe Cole has done really well out there, and once Ashley Cole is back he'll sort out any issues of actually going to the line to cross the ball when he overlaps. We're not playing David Cinderella* James anymore, always guaranteed to cost you at least one goal per tournament.
True world class players, like Terry and Lampard, have come to the fore since the last big tournament. Owen's form is good, Beckham's is his best for years...it's all good. We've discovered players like Young, Konchesky and King, even if they were forced by injuries.
The players seem to actually believe they can win it, and the fans definitely do. That's a change to the past for me. I really don't think a few years ago we could go behind twice to Argentina and come back to win it. Even when we have come back, we never played that well against such a good team. At all the recent championships we've been a possible winner, always a good team, but never real favourites. Having said that, let's not forget that, with a weaker team, we only got knocked out by Brazil at the last World Cup. Turkey and a not great Germany after that? I think we would have won it if we could have somehow got past Brazil!
Sven, in the last few games, has made good substitutions
This is a new phenomenon, shocking but welcome. He's even found a couple of formations that will work with different players.
But the main reason...the absolute main reason...is Rooney. He's truly world class, creeping into that pretty damn exclusive tier above the likes of Lampard and Terry occupied by only a few players at any one time. Without him, we won't win it. Well, we could, but it'll go back to the way it's been at the last few tournaments. He's the complete player. He's fast, he's got great skill, finds that crucial space between attack and defence with seeming ease, wonderful passer, great long distance shots, superb vision, strong in the air, even bundles them in whe necessary. For England he's the key player who is almost always involved in every good move we have. I think he was the best player at Euro 2004 from any country, he set the tournament alight, but after he was injured England just weren't the same. You won't find many England fans who'll claim we can win it without him, and I don't think there's a single other England player we could lose and then not have a hope.
I just thought of another one. It's in Germany, a climate we can't only handle, but is very similar to our own.
Having said all that, that's just look inwards. There are so many good teams around today, much better than I think we saw at the last World Cup. I honestly think that, on their day, any of Brazil, Argentina, Holland, England, France, The Czech Republic, Portugal, Italy and Spain could beat any of the others. If I'm honest, I don't see the winner coming from any of the last 4 I mentioned, but you never know. It could come down to the draw, injuries, even Germany might get involved despite being an incredibly average German side, home advantage does that. And look at the last World Cup, everyone said it was one of the worst Brazilian teams in years (which is still a good team), but they won while the favourites of Argentina and France didn't make the second round!
While you might say Brazil are favourites, we know they can be beaten. And in the 9 times the World Cup has been played in Europe, 8 European teams have won it (yes, Brazil are the exception).
*"I must go to the ball!"
EDIT: Whooooops, forgot France!
Hooker said:
Well it's a combination of things. With a fit team/squad, this is by far the best group of players we've had in the last 15 years, maybe more. There's not a weak position really. We also have players like Joe Cole, Wright-Philips, Crouch etc we can throw on to swing a game.
The left wing problem has been mostly sorted. We still don't have a great left footed winger, but Joe Cole has done really well out there, and once Ashley Cole is back he'll sort out any issues of actually going to the line to cross the ball when he overlaps. We're not playing David Cinderella* James anymore, always guaranteed to cost you at least one goal per tournament.
True world class players, like Terry and Lampard, have come to the fore since the last big tournament. Owen's form is good, Beckham's is his best for years...it's all good. We've discovered players like Young, Konchesky and King, even if they were forced by injuries.
The players seem to actually believe they can win it, and the fans definitely do. That's a change to the past for me. I really don't think a few years ago we could go behind twice to Argentina and come back to win it. Even when we have come back, we never played that well against such a good team. At all the recent championships we've been a possible winner, always a good team, but never real favourites. Having said that, let's not forget that, with a weaker team, we only got knocked out by Brazil at the last World Cup. Turkey and a not great Germany after that? I think we would have won it if we could have somehow got past Brazil!
Sven, in the last few games, has made good substitutions
This is a new phenomenon, shocking but welcome. He's even found a couple of formations that will work with different players.But the main reason...the absolute main reason...is Rooney. He's truly world class, creeping into that pretty damn exclusive tier above the likes of Lampard and Terry occupied by only a few players at any one time. Without him, we won't win it. Well, we could, but it'll go back to the way it's been at the last few tournaments. He's the complete player. He's fast, he's got great skill, finds that crucial space between attack and defence with seeming ease, wonderful passer, great long distance shots, superb vision, strong in the air, even bundles them in whe necessary. For England he's the key player who is almost always involved in every good move we have. I think he was the best player at Euro 2004 from any country, he set the tournament alight, but after he was injured England just weren't the same. You won't find many England fans who'll claim we can win it without him, and I don't think there's a single other England player we could lose and then not have a hope.
I just thought of another one. It's in Germany, a climate we can't only handle, but is very similar to our own.
Having said all that, that's just look inwards. There are so many good teams around today, much better than I think we saw at the last World Cup. I honestly think that, on their day, any of Brazil, Argentina, Holland, England, France, The Czech Republic, Portugal, Italy and Spain could beat any of the others. If I'm honest, I don't see the winner coming from any of the last 4 I mentioned, but you never know. It could come down to the draw, injuries, even Germany might get involved despite being an incredibly average German side, home advantage does that. And look at the last World Cup, everyone said it was one of the worst Brazilian teams in years (which is still a good team), but they won while the favourites of Argentina and France didn't make the second round!
While you might say Brazil are favourites, we know they can be beaten. And in the 9 times the World Cup has been played in Europe, 8 European teams have won it (yes, Brazil are the exception).
*"I must go to the ball!"
EDIT: Whooooops, forgot France!
Roma players and their president whining again 
I can't believe Sensi actually said he'd definitely beat us. Still from the highlights I saw there were plenty of chances for both sides and it looked like a good tempoed game.
Looks like they are royally screwed big time due to all the injuries. It's like 3 players in their regular start-up who are not injured.