England can shine in Brazil

CHAPMAN’S CORNER
I NOTICED that Luiz Felipe Scolari was saying yesterday that he fancied England to do well at the World Cup in Brazil, and I believe he might be right.

There has long been this very high expectancy following the England team as they gear up for major tournaments, but certainly recently, that seems to have dropped off a bit.

And that can only help the England lads, it eases the intense pressure that the media and the people of the nation just seem to heap on them.

That expectancy level had dipped before the last European Championships, and consequently I think that helped Roy Hodgson.

We pretty much sailed through the group stage before losing a close-run thing against Italy.

There are undoubtedly lots of talented players in the England squad, and plenty coming through.

There’s no reason why we can’t make it into the top five teams in the world, and go and do well in Brazil next year.

Some of these lads just need to go and enjoy it, they’ll have nothing to lose. The expectancy might not be there any more, but the ability and the capability definitely is, so with a bit of luck along the way we could all be laughing at the end of the tournament.

I didn’t see the Chile game on Friday, but I’ll be tuning in for the Germany game tonight - the old enemy.

I know it’s being reported that they will be short of a few players, but they will still be a very capable side.

It’ll be another tough one for England, and even though it’s just a friendly there will still be that extra spice purely because it’s Germany.

Our lads will be desperate to win.

Despite all my involvement in football I’ve only ever watched England play live once – and it was quite a few years ago!

The chance came about back in the days when I was playing for Huddersfield Town.

My great pal Frank Worthington was a team-mate, and once when he got called up for England I went to Wembley to watch the game.

It was against Greece and I think England won 1-0.

Frank and I were almost inseperable during our days at Huddersfield, we enjoyed some terrific times.

I don’t see or hear that much from him thesedays, but he’s always been a great character.

As for the old Wembley Stadium, I do remember the atmosphere was terrific that night and I suppose it’s quite surprising that I’ve never been to watch England since.