The drawing for the World Cup wasn't exactly kind to England as they will face two exceptional teams in Group D, but it could have been worse. For instance, at least we have been able to avoid the likes of hosts Brazil and current holders Spain. So, many times during previous World Cups and European Championships in the past we have seen England just about squeeze through the group, before failing at an early knock-out stage. The big positive of this draw is England will have no real option, but to really hit the ground running from the first game. Having to face Italy first and then Uruguay may prove to be an advantage or a difficulty, but England must be aware that if they don't do their job in the first two games a big win against Costa Rica in the final one won't make much difference. So, with all that being said, I thought this was an opportune moment to look at the reasons why we must start well. This piece may also be seen as an early preview of this fascinating Group D, let's get started....
James Kent is a freelance writer published on Yahoo! Sports, Bleacher Report, FTBpro, Bloomberg Sports and many others. He has also been featured in the Daily Telegraph, Zoo Magazine, MSN Sport and the Manchester Evening News.
His role on What Culture is currently to produce compelling football articles that nearly always use of combination of stats and strong opinion. Feel free to connect with James via Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus.
