TAZ, no team has 11 world class players!!!
Let's check it out!!!!
What you fail to see you could easily apply the same analysis to all the other countries in the World Cup. Of course the England team has its faults - however, Dani Alves, of Brazil, whilst being devastating when running up the wing, is a similarly erratic defender to Glen Johnson, whilst none of their strikers are as effective as Wayne Rooney
. Spain, whilst obviously being the favourites for a reason, do also have weaknesses - Gerald Pique's shaky displays for Barcelona suggest that he's not a defender who should inspire confidence any more than Michael Dawson, or even Matthew Upson. Alvaro Arbeloa is barely fit to lace Ashley Cole's boots.
It may also be true that Steven Gerrard has not had the best of seasons, but is he still one of the best attacking midfield players around? Yes, of course he is. Unless, of course, you know better than Inter Milan and Real Madrid, both of who would love to sign him this summer.
John Terry may lack pace, but fortunately pace is not the be-all and end-all in a central defender, particularly when he is likely to have the pacey King alongside him, and particularly when his superb reading of the game makes up for a lack of pace. Of course, again, you may be right, and John Terry's standing in the world game as one of the planet's top central defenders is a total fallacy.
No one's England has the best side at the World Cup, or that we will DEFINITELY WIN IT. The World Cup, like any other cup, often throws up surprises. England, on their day, can give any team a run for their money. As for Capello, to provide a riposte to your idiotic ramblings about how he doesn't stick to his principles, blah blah, he need only show you his medals.
Would you like to explain where Italy's flair player was four years ago? Did they have anyone capable of beating a man? Gilardino? Totti? Gatusso? Did they have a single player capable of winning a game on his own? No. Not a single one. Just a strong side with experience.
I'm sorry but England and their fans are no more deluded than Holland, Argentina, France, Germany, Brazil and Italy. Only one team can win it, and if yours doesn't, it doesn't make you deluded. It simply means that one team can win it and yours was one of the ones that didn't, along with another 30.
It's all very well poking fun at England's qualifying group and dismissing the likes of Kazahstan, Belarus and Andorra, but who did Brazil play? Argentina aside they played the might of Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela and Colombia, who haven't been remotely good for 15 years or more. I'm sorry, but that is a very poor qualifying group. Yet they swan up with their out of form Kaka, and their "not good enough for the Premier League" Robinho, and they're billed as favourites, all of sudden?
See, easy isn't it? To dismiss a team by selectively picking holes in their side, or dismissing their qualifying group as 'easy'. But that doesn't make it so.
As far as I'm concerned, the only team who aren't deluding themselves is Spain, because it's common knowledge that they have hot team with form and experience. The rest, as far as I'm concerned, is fair game. There's no such thing as a perfect team, and there's no a such thing as a perfect group. These sides played their fair share of rotters too, and they all have flaws to boot.
THREE LIONS!!!!
..."Wewe ni mtu mdogo sana....na mwenye amekuandika pia ni mtu mdogo sana!".