Predicted order of finish: England, Sweden, Paraguay, Trinidad & Tobago

England coach Sven Goran Erikkson has no experienced healthy strikers, has just last week decided to start the World Cup in a 4-1-4-1 formation while keeping the one player who plays regularly in defensive midfield on the bench, and brought to Germany a 17 year old striker who has never played in any top professional league.

Even with that, England should still win their group although it will be much tougher due to the obstacles previously stated and the apparent absence of Wayne Rooney who broke his foot at the end of the Premiership season. June 7 is the Manchester United forwards next bone scan and then Erikkson will decide whether to keep Rooney in the squad for the later rounds or call on Spurs Jermaine Defoe.

England will win their group not because of a lack of talent in the other teams, but because even with the striker situation unsettled they still have what it takes to score a few goals while shutting down most offenses. John Terry and Rio Ferdinand are two of the best central defenders in the world and Gary Neville and Ashley Cole are both solid at full back. The midfield is also exceptional with David Beckham recovering well from the poor form he showed at Real Madrid this season. Steven Gerrard storming from the midfield could make up for any striker deficiencies and Joe Cole is almost certain to be one of the stars of the tournament.

Sweden also has the potential to be very exciting with one of the top strikers in the world in Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Barcelona’s Henrik Larrson and Arsenal’s Freddie Ljunberg in attack. They finished ahead of England in the group stages in 2002 and could very well pip them to the top, again on goal differential. But, like England, the Swedes are worried about the health of one of their top men, Ljunberg. He has only just returned from injury and has been advised by the team doctor to not play in the group stages.

Paraguay are a somewhat unknown entity which could scare and maybe surprise their opponents. They are certainly the third best team in South America, but are unbalanced, with an exciting strikeforce but many questions in defense. Adding to their problems is the questionable health of star man Roque Santa Cruz who plays for Bayern Munich. A recurring knee injury has kept the striker out of training and he is still a doubt for the group stages.

Trinidad & Tobago are one of the many teams who are just happy to have qualified for Germany and should serve as the whipping boys in this group. The Soca Warriors shouldn’t worry anyone but seeing former Man Unted star Dwight Yorke and several others playing in the English lower divisions should make for an entertaining match.

England are the team most likely to recover from the injuries that will keep major players out of the group stages. Sweden and Paraguay will battle it out for second with the winner of their battle on June 15 certain to move on.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 1st, 2006 at 2:54 pm and is filed under World Cup 2006. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.