Bulgaria vs. England - Euro 2012 Match Preview

So it's that time in the football calendar where the World€™s best players leave the World€™s best clubs having mostly produced some slick, impressive performances for the teams who play their wages, to now produce some cobbled together, half arsed performances for their national team. As Gary Neville said recently, "There have been times when I've reflected on my international career and just thought: 'Well that was a massive waste of time." There will be few who disagree with that after watching England stutter to a win over Bulgaria on Friday night in the Euro 2012 qualifier. And stutter to a win they had better, otherwise qualification for Euro 2012 in Poland & Ukraine (has a tournament ever sounded less enticing?) will start to look a little dicey and the possibility of a second place play off (against potentially Russia, Croatia, Sweden or Belgium) may start to loom on the horizon. England sit top of their group on goal difference, but have made it unnecessarily hard for themselves after drawing their last two home games against Montenegro and Switzerland. They follow up tonight with the home banker against Wales at Wembley on Tuesday and then the crucial away game in Montenegro, knowing that anything less than nine points could spell trouble. As for the team, it looks as if Fabio Capello's mistrust of Micah Richards continues with Chris Smalling likely to play at night back, his first game in an England shirt. His impressive Manchester United colleague Phil Jones will also win start next to his idol John Terry in central defence to similarly win his first cap. Ashley Cole should continue at left back. In midfield, Gareth Barry looks likely to reclaim his place from Scott Parker after his good start to the season. With Jack Wilshire and Steven Gerrard injured, Capello may give Tom Cleverly a start alongside Frank Lampard or he could go with the more experienced James Milner. Upfront, Darren Bent's hamstring injury that kept him out of training yesterday should mean that England line up 4-3-3 with Wayne Rooney being flanked by team mate Ashley Young and Theo Walcott. Though Spurs striker Jermaine Defoe might be able to sneak himself into the team. Hopefully Rooney can begin to show the sort of goal scoring form for England that he has for Manchester United this calendar year as he will need to have his best tournament since Euro 2004 if England are to make any sort of impact next summer. I can't see past an England win here. They have won their last 10 games in September and Bulgaria are in disarray at the moment, they have only managed two goals so far in qualifying. That said I think England will find a way to make a relatively easy game harder than needed. Prediction: Bulgaria 1 England 3. Latest odds for tonight's game courtesy of Bet on Euro 2012: Bulgaria - 11/2 Draw - 11/4 England - 4/7