Coach: Sven-Goran Eriksson
Tactics: Strong in midfield but the left flank remains a problem area.
Star Player: Wayne Rooney - supremely talented and seems to be curbing his temper.
Verdict: Have the players to go all the way but consistency remains a problem. Defeat to Northern Ireland in qualifying was followed by a thrilling win over Argentina in a friendly in Geneva. Question marks exist about the defence at the highest level. John Terry is a rock but Rio Ferdinand needs to get back to his best, and fast.
Ten things you didn’t know about England
1. England is in fact, England – NOT Britain, Great Britain, United Kingdom, and certainly not Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland. It is the most populous part of Great Britain, representing 84% of Britain’s population.
2. England derives its name from the Angles, a Germanic tribe which settled in ‘England’ in the 5th and 6th centuries.
3. It is one of the most densely populated countries in the EU, second only to the Netherlands.
4. England’s longest river is the Severn, which rises in central Wales and flows through Shrewsbury, Worcester and Gloucester in England to the Bristol Channel. It is 200 miles long.
5. No point in England is ever more than 75 miles from the sea.
6. English people drink more tea than any other nationality in the world.
7. The English village of Hay-on-Wye, while only having a population of only 1,300, has 40 bookshops.
8. England has not been a distinct entity since 1707, when the Act of Union formally united England with Scotland and Wales. The current “United Kingdom” came into being with the addition of Northern Ireland in 1927.
9. Since 2000, England has been the only part of the UK without its own ‘devolved’ parliament. This has led to an apparently anomalous situation whereby Scottish MPs sometimes vote for certain matters that apply to England only, while English MPs have no say over equivalent matters in Scotland. This is known as the West Lothian question.
10. While not a legal entity as such, the concept of England is very much with us. Apart from the fact that most foreigners muddle ‘English’ up with ‘British’ all the time, ‘England’ remains an important entity in some respects: For example, the Queen is technically the Queen of Great Britain, but this form is rarely used and she is more often known as the Queen of England. Similarly, the United Kingdom’s major financial dealings (e.g. setting of interest rates, commercial bank regulation, management of national gold supply, etc.) are handled by the Bank of England.
