The World Cup is like a swimming pool filled with the deadliest beasts of the ocean. As you would expect, all of the most potent international squads on the globe are present with humble old England a non-threatening tuna swimming amid the sharks like Spain, Brazil, Argentina and Germany. Most people who think they know their football believe it will be one of these dominant leviathans of the footballing world who will be raising the cup on July 13th. Expectations for these four favourites are justifiably high. Brazil are the hosts and most have the yellow-clad team as the tournaments most likely winners, Spain are the current tournament champions, Germany have one of the deepest, most promising squads out there and Argentina have a certain Lionel Messi (not to mention Di Maria, Aguero and Lavezzi). With everyone anticipating that the face of the 2014 World Cup to be dictated by these four teams, nobody is expecting much of England. Most believe Hodgsons men will be lucky if they emerge from the group theyre in and even if they somehow manage this feat, they will be certain to be overwhelmed by whichever team they get in the round of 16. With the lack of belief in the squad, there is less pressure on them to achieve anything, meaning they are free to play uninhibited and without feeling the weight of a nations hopes on their backs. The last time people had such little faith in an England squad was the 1990 World Cup where it was a close penalty-shoot out lost to West Germany who would go on to win the whole competition which stopped us from being in the final.
Hailing from South East London, Sam Heard is an aspiring writer and recent graduate from the University of Warwick. Sam's favourite things include energy drinks, late nights spent watching the UFC with his girlfriend and annihilating his friends at FIFA.
