Over to you England

By David Lee Wheatley

On the back of phenomenal British sporting success during the summer of 2012 and another promising year shaping up this time around, can the England national football team finally make their fans proud by going further than the quarter-finals of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil to provide a third memorable summer in a row?

The watching public witnessed countless golden triumphs at the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics, the wonderful comeback win by the European Ryder Cup team at Medinah, Rory McIlroy taking the PGA Championship for his first golfing major, Chelsea claiming the Champions League trophy against all odds, Bradley Wiggins becoming the first-ever Briton to win the Tour de France and Andy Murray rounding it all off in fine style with his opening Grand Slam tournament triumph at the US Open in New York.

Following that was always going to tough, but the Brits are giving it a good go; Justin Rose won the US Open golf tournament to join the major-winning club, while Andy Murray became the first man from these shores to win Wimbledon since Fred Perry 77 years prior. In rugby union, the British and Irish Lions snapped a demoralising run of series losses with a first tour victory since 1997, beating Australia 2-1 with a comprehensive score advantage in the deciding test.

Meanwhile, Chris Froome is well-placed to replicate Wiggins’ success at the Tour de France. He currently holds the yellow jersey as the General Classification leader and is clear favourite to claim victory. On top of that, England hold all the cards in the first Ashes test against Australia at Trent Bridge and look almost certain to go up 1-0 in the series.

It stands to reason that all of that success should inspire an England football team that has repeatedly failed to get beyond the quarter-finals in five of the last six major tournaments, with the odd one out occurring when they didn’t even qualify for Euro 2008. However, after so many previous disappointments, can England drag themselves out of the mire to put the country’s football team back amongst the world’s best?

Roy Hodgson still doesn’t seem to know his best formation or line-up, which are issues that need addressing immediately. There are four qualification matches remaining, three of which are at home, and if England win the lot they guarantee their spot at Brazil 2014. Ukraine away appears the most difficult remaining challenge, but if Hodgson’s boys can rise to the task then at least we can look forward to seeing the team perform at the tournament proper.

Hodgson’s options include some interesting young players coming through the ranks, who could all potentially provide reasons for optimism should the Three Lions seal their place at the competition. However, the one-dimensional nature of some of the team’s showings under the former Fulham and Switzerland boss have been less-than-impressive.

As usual, the chances of a second World Cup victory 48 years after the first will be hyped up by sections of the media in the run-up to the start of the competition in South America, but realistic hope is largely redundant.

It would be a massive surprise if England made it to the last four or beyond, but if anything can assist in the international side’s quest for the Holy Grail, it has be the inspiration that can be gleaned from the fabulous achievements across a plethora of sports by British sportsmen and sportswomen in recent times.

Come on England; give your supporters something to cheer about!