Is England ready for Brazil?

England may have managed to qualify for next year’s World Cup in Brazil but there is definitely the nagging feeling that they’re a team not playing at their best.

Fifa’s latest world rankings have confirmed that England haven’t made it into the top eight seeded teams for the World Cup 2014, essentially showing them to be a team that is far from the top performers. They have climbed from 17th to tenth in the rankings though, showing a marked improvement but they will now have to play one of the very top ranked teams in their group matches, meaning their likelihood of success is far from guaranteed.

England qualifies against Poland

A 2-0 win against Poland secured England’s place in the World Cup 2014. But how was the match itself – did it show the team at their best? Should it give hope to the army of England fans who badly need some footballing success after decades of disappointment? Or did it just reinforced that England is outclassed by the top teams and is likely to fall on their faces in Brazil?

Well, it was a solid if underwhelming performance that left many England fans simply relieved that the team has made it through. How well they are realistically going to do when the time comes is debatable.

Does the seeding matter?

Yes, it does, when it comes to drawing the matches at least. It can’t be a surprise to the team and their manager Roy Hodgson, they are simply not in the same league as other teams in the competition. But as they’re not seeded they now face the possibility of playing Brazil, Germany, Argentina or current world cup holders Spain.

The team is hoping that they will get their best hope, which is to end up in the same group as Switzerland – Hodgson’s knowledge of the team could come in handy. Even then they run the risk or a surprise wild card team disrupting the group.

The main competition

Italy and the Netherlands are also unseeded following the Fifa rankings, but Belgium, Colombia and Switzerland are up there in the top teams. England will face either Spain, Argentina, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Colombia and possibly Uruguay depending on their result against Jordan in their upcoming match.

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