Unburdened England need the best from their stars
23/06/04 | by Alex Walker

So another tournament is reaching the midway point and once again the pessimism has drained away and now England fans - encouraged by some strong group game performances - are starting to wonder: "What if…"

Just before the tournament I was writing about how France were scheduled to thrash us - though I correctly predicted the negative result, I underestimated the performance the England team were set to put in. I don't think I'm alone in being surprised at how well the side has played so far, and in particular against the French. But does that mean we were wrong to be overly-critical of Sven and his team's chances this summer? Perhaps, but it is this guardedly downbeat approach that has allowed for our promising start.

Just look at all the teams who were early favourites to win the competition:

• Italy - eliminated last night and, conspiracy theories aside, they can have no complaints.
• Holland - Failed to break down a poor German side and the usual in-fighting means their destiny is not in their own hands tonight.
• Spain - Failure to beat the hosts saw them become the first big name to drop out.
• France - Should have finished second in the group were it not for panicky Englishmen and were fortunate not to lose to Croatia in the dying minutes.
• Portugal - Scraped through in poor quality 'derby' game with Spain.

On the other hand, teams like Denmark, Greece, Croatia and the Czech Republic - who arrived without the weight of expectation on their backs - have captured the imagination and produced some fine results.

Now, in most respects, one would place England in the top group, being one of the world's leading footballing nations and counting some world class players among their number. But it has been the lack of expectation that has been crucial to England's success so far while others have crumbled. For instance, when Thierry Henry arrived in Portugal, the eyes of the world were on him, expecting him to reproduce his form for Arsenal this season. But it took him nearly three games to get into his stride and find the net, where as an internationally unknown 18-year-old has thrived with four goals that he made look easy.

You can see it within the England team as well: David Beckham and Michael Owen - as our two biggest proven talents - were under a great deal of pressure to perform, but have so far been disappointing. Where as, the likes of Frank Lampard, John Terry, Ledley King and, of course, Wayne Rooney, have been grabbing all the headlines, despite their lack of experience in major tournaments - the pressures of a European Championship or World Cup are not known to them, so do not figure in their play.

However, now the team has defied early expectations (or rather, the lack of them), England needs these experienced players to start performing. For every day the media spotlight on Rooney brightens and every time a commentator cautiously points out that "no other team has stood out so far", the weight of expectation grows on the team. And it is the likes of Beckham and Owen who will be most important to England as people start tipping them for the championship.

Owen is quite clearly suffering from a lack of confidence and the first goal should solve this problem, a la Paul Scholes. Beckham's problem is that he trying too hard: as captain he feels the need to continually run the length of the pitch, meaning that whenever England are attacking, he is out of the picture helping out at right-back. Given that we have the perfectly-capable Gary Neville in that position, Beckham should just concentrate on getting forward and helping Mr Owen end his poor form with some quality service.

There was a perfectly good reason that confidence was so low pre-tournament - and that was the fact that England don't have a very good side. A good side, sure, but not a very good side by any stretch. Questions hang over the goalkeeper and we still don't have anyone to play on the left wing, to name our too biggest problems. But that doesn't mean England can't win this competition - despite the flaws in our side, we have a number of top class players who are key to any success.

The fact that I've now gone from predicting a sound thrashing at the hands of the French to talking about England possibly going all the way is reflective of England's current predicament. The lack of expectation in the early stages may have helped us through thus far, but now the pressure is starting to grow. It's fair to say that without a certain young scouser we wouldn't have fared nearly as well up 'til now - but equally, without the experience and sheer quality of an on-form Beckham and Owen, we will not progress any further. In short, Rooney cannot carry the burden on his own.