Vent of Hearing

Can England win World Cup 2002?

Korea and Japan are hosts to one of the most open and entertaining World Cups ever. Favourites have fallen by the wayside, unfancied teams are performing as teams and top European "Nike" stars are flops.

England survived the Group of Death without playing well in two of the three games, and eased into the quarter finals against a Denmark team that pushed the self destruct button. Suddenly, everyone in England think they can win it. And despite the hype, so do I.

They are over-hyped. The performances wouldn't normally give me too much hope. They are likely to play Brazil next.

Yet, this is the cup for surprises. And England have played well against Argentina and Denmark. Okay Denmark made their own errors and had lots of possession, but they couldn't get through. Brazil haven't played any really good teams yet, and have a suspect defense. If any defense can contain the three R's, it is England.

And if England beat Brazil, who can stop them? Not the errant Spanish and Italians? Only the efficient Germans, who have slipped into an easy looking quarter final with USA. The Germans we beat 5-1.