England
England - Group D (Uruguay, Costa Rica, Italy)
The nation with consistently high expectations, owing to its famous domestic leagues, is also the most disappointing at the big stage. England is probably the most followed team in the finals, if not the most supported. But they never quite managed to reflect their domestic success at international level. Their hiccups at Knockout stages, especially when dealing with Penalty Shootouts are as legendary as the team. England is undoubtedly the most supported team with least returns
Profile - The Football Association
England is widely regarded as home to the association football, as played in its current form and is part of first ever international, played against Scotland in 1872. Due to their dissociation with FIFA between 1928 and 1946, due to wars and other political reasons, they were not part of World Cups until 1950. 2014 marks their fourteenth skirmish for the Cup, which they managed to win in 1966 as hosts
Owing to the popularity of English game both domestically and internationally, the national team and the players possess cult like following across the world, often acquiring premature stardom
The current English team is adept at using the flanks as well as long shots to score but they are inept in both utilizing and defending set-piece opportunities. Often they find themselves conceding from winning positions
Confederation: UEFA (Europe)
Coach: Roy Hodgson (ENG)
FIFA Ranking: 11 (8-May-2014)
Nickname: The Three Lions
Key Players: Rooney, Gerrard, Cahill
Legends: Charlton, Shilton, Beckham
World Champions: 1966
History - Little Success
Although the English team is expected to win every time it competes, it has only won a World Cup, hosted at home. Apart from that, they never managed to reach the finals of a major tourney including Euro
Their best performances include fourth place in 1990 World Cup and third place in 1968 and 1996 Euro Cups
Qualification - Unbeaten
Although they were not as strong as their 2010 campaign, where they won nine of their ten qualifiers, England qualified without losing a match in Group H of UEFA qualifiers. Although a series of draws led to a final round must win situation against Poland, England comfortably won the game automatically qualifying ahead of Ukraine
Prospects - Group of Death
Having drawn along with two previous cup winners, England has the one of the toughest draws for a favorite. Each of their group game can go either way , but their ability to handle Uruguay and Italy would seal the fate of the team which face the possibility of a first group stage exit since 1958
If England manage to go through to the knockouts, they have the hosts or the defending champions waiting for them at the quarterfinals
Squad
Goalkeepers:
Joe Hart (Manchester City), Ben Foster (West Bromwich Albion), Fraser Forster (Celtic)
Defenders:
Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Phil Jagielka (Everton), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Chris Smalling (Manchester United), Phil Jones (Manchester United), Leighton Baines (Everton), Luke Shaw (Southampton)
Midfielders:
Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), James Milner (Manchester City), Jack Wilshere (Arsenal), Ross Barkley (Everton), Adam Lallana (Southampton), Raheem Sterling (Liverpool), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (Arsenal)
Forwards:
Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Daniel Sturridge (Liverpool), Danny Welbeck (Manchester United), Rickie Lambert (Southampton).
Stand-by:
John Ruddy (Norwich), Jon Flanagan (Liverpool), John Stones (Everton), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), Tom Cleverley (Manchester United), Andy Carroll (West Ham), Jermain Defoe (Toronto)
Fixtures
Costa Rica vs England on June 24 at Belo Horizonte
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