An England fans view

4 years of wasted friendlies and no plan B. Plan A is, of course, 4-4-2 with Rooney up front. Now the White Pele is injured, the Swede finally has to attempt to earn some of his outrageous salary and this is what he comes up with.

Initially, he name a squad short on forward (2 injured, 1 giraffe and 1 toddler) whilst packing it with midfielders of varying abilities from Gerrard right down to Hargreaves.

Logically enough, he wants to play his strongest side in the 2 remaining friendlies, against Hungary tonight and Jamaica on Saturday. Now comes the experimenting. Reports suggest he's going to play 1 up front (Owen) and push Stevie G forward to hopefully produce the same form he has for Liverpool all season. To replace Gerrard as the holding midfielder he has a number of options. How about the Swede's love-child Hargreaves ?? Or the untalented Jenas ?? Carrick is another option.

No, instead the Scandinavian genius goes for Carragher - a defender. Fantastic, how to upset 3 of your squad all at once. The question is, if Carragher is pencilled in for cover in midfield, why name so many midfielders and so few forwards.

The answer is simple. Carragher played in this position for England B last week for 45 mins. Now if only the idiot had used the friendly matches for the last 4 years properly instead of turning them into farcial practice matches, we may be in a better position to win this tournament.

If England do somehow win the World Cup, it will be in spite of Eriksson, not because of him

5 years ago, not many people had even heard of a metatarsal, never mind knew what it was. Today, you can barely open the sports pages of any newspaper without find a reference to it somewhere. For the uneducated, a metataral is a bone in your foot and its something that England footballers tend to break with alarming regularity, especially when a major tournament is around the corner. This year victim, as every schoolboy knows, is The White Pele aka Wayne Rooney.

There have been endless twists and turns. The Swede has definitely not picked enough strikers in his squad assuming Rooney still goes. Rules state he can be replaced up to 24 hours before England's first match. A recent scan showed the break is healing nicely but its not ready yet. He will have a second scan on 7th June, just 2 days before the deadline and a decision will be made whether to take him or not. Its definitely a risk to take him but he is such a talent, its difficult to leave him behind. Personally, I would have taken him although I would have made sure there were another 4 strikers in the squad.

Its not a World Cup unless the Jocks aren't involved. No, of course I don't mean actually sending a team, they are far too awful for that. I mean the endless drove incomprehensive, cross-dressers (kilt ??? No, it's a skirt you girl) banging on about how they will support whoever England are playing. They really are a very bitter and twisted nation. The latest sweaty to mouth off is tennis player, Andrew Murray. He was being interviewed on Eurosport at the weekend when he made his comments. Fair enough, he speaks his mind and says what he wants - I just hope the Wimbledon crowd remember his comments in a few weeks time and give him the support he deserves.

The countdown is really on now. It all kicks off in Germany in just over 2 weeks. Tomorrow night is the 1st of England's 3 final warm-up games. It's a 'B' international fixture against Belarus at Reading. The more established England players will sit out the game although it gives Michael Owen a chance to build up a bit of match fitness after missing so much of the season through injury.

17 year old Theo Walcott will make an appearance at some stage which is more than Arsene Wenger has managed to provide for him this season. Until he actually plays, we won't know if he's up to it or not at the moment but one thing is for certain, he has pace that will frighten any team in the world.

The news of Wayne Rooney is very encouraging. Tomorrow he has a scan which should hopefully show the injury has healed up and he can start training on Friday. With 2 weeks to go, it means he would almost certainly play some part in England's group matches.

Living outside the UK, I'm spared the pain of waiting for my World Cup tickets to be delivered, instead, I will have to pick them up in Frankfurt. Having heard the stories from other fans about their tickets, I can't say I'm upset. The FA have decided to use a company called SMS to deliver the tickets to fans. Now, in case you hadn't realised, World Cup tickets are highly valueable so there is plenty of money to be made if the tickets get....er......lost. I've heard stories about delivery men forging signatures and pushing the tickets through doors so they don't have to re-deliver tickets, tickets being left without signatures, tickets being delivered to wrong addresses. The whole situation is a joke.

It's not really surprising when my Jamaica tickets still haven't arrived. The game is in 10 days time and I'm flying in for the game. I called the ticket suppliers and they said I can collect the tickets before the match. However, it's not very convenient for me as it'll eat into my drinking time. I wanted them to send replacements to one of the other members of our group but that was obviously too difficult. Customer service seems to have gone out of the window. I predict a riot next week if my tickets haven't arrived.

I can't remember the last time I was so angry. The man is an absolute f**king w**ker. I'd have no objection to Walcott if everyone was fit. Instead he picks just 4 strikers - 2 are injured, 1 is a giraffe and 1 is still in nappies. Then he doesn't even pick the leading English scorer in the Premier League on standby. Andy Johnson is shite. There isn't a single aspect of his game that makes him better than Darren Bent. He's never even seen Walcott (who looks like a mini Craig David) play so his listens to that food poisoner Wenger. If Walcott is so ready for the World Cup, lets see him on the bench for Arsenal next Wednesday. No ?? Thought not. Hypocritcal tosser

Campbell is an emotional wreck and looked dodgy against Wigan on Sunday.

He leaves out Ledley King who has a broken foot and then picks Rooney who also has a broken foot. Worzel Green hasn't played for the scum (norwich) for 6 weeks but he gets into the squad.

He says he's taking Walcot and he knows it's a gamble. I quote "He is a great talent. I have 23 players, why not take one gambling?"

If that was the case, I'd agree but it's not one gamble. That over-paid, over-sexed and over-here grandad is gambling on Rooney, Walcott, Owen, Campbell, Green and Lennon.

On top of that, he's taking his lovechild Hargreaves, presumabley because he can speak German and set up the Swede with some local chicks. He's definitely not in on ability. I don't care what he's done for Bayern. He's always been crap for England every single time I've had the misfortune to watch the inept fool.

What I can't understand is why for the last 3 years he has picked all his favourites for all the friendlies who turn up, perform at about 30% then as soon as a major tournament comes round, he abandons those players and brings in loads of people for the first time.

£4m a year for that c**t is a disgrace. The sooner he f**ks off the better. If only Bobby Robson was 25 years younger

Svennis ar en fita !!!!

If you care, the 23 man preliminary squad can be found here - England Squad
WARNING: Not suitable for anyone with high blood pressure

The Swede names his preliminary squad tomorrow, 7 days before the final 23 have to be announced. So just who will be on the plane? The squad for England and all other teams can be found on my FIFA World Cup 2006 website as they are announced which can be found here

Goalkeepers: The 3 keepers look pretty much sorted. Paul Robinson is the undisputed first choice with the dodgy David James and useless Robert Green as back-up. It is possible that Liverpool's Scott Carson could replace Worzel Green which gets my vote

Defenders: Ashley Cole seems to be winning his fitness battle after coming through 90 minutes against Man City in the week. This is excellent news as it'll mean we have our first choice defence all available. Fat Sol has made a comeback and should go but I can't see him starting line up. It looks more and more likely that Ledley King and Wayne Bridge will miss out so The Swede has a bit of thinking to do regarding who else he will take. Losing Ledley King would be quite a blow as he has never let England down and can play in a number of positions which is very useful for a squad.

Midfield: God I hope Hargreaves doesn't go. I really don't see what he offers England but for some reason, the Swede rates him. I think it's probably out of guilt. He capped him a couple of years ago to stop Germany or Canada getting him and now it turns out he is rubbish, he feels obliged to play him. While the Swede hasn't managed to dream up a plan B now Rooney is injured, there is talk Gerrard could be pushed forward just behind Owen and bring in Carrick as the defensive player. Gerrard has said that he's barely played 45 mins for England in his preferred role for England. Sean Wright-Phillips has suffered a poor season and must fear for his place, especially with the emergence of Arron Lennon and Stewart Downing. Joe Cole has made left midfield his position. Jermaine Jenas is also struggling with injury so it may be that Bolton's Kevin Nolan could get involved although the Swede will probably pick Phil Neville.

Forwards: It looks almost certain that Rooney will be taken to Germany as there is a rule that allows an injured player to be replaced up until 24 hours before a teams first game. I can understand the hype and desire that take this exceptionally talented player but I'm wary that the Swede could play him when he's not fit. If Rooney does go, the Swede would be mad not to take along another 4 strikers. Those 4 will almost certainly be Michael Owen, Peter Crouch, Darren Bent (a tractorboy) and Jermaine Defoe. Andy Johnson has been touted by some but he's a donkey. Boris Johnson has put in a much more convincing performance in an England shirt recently as you can see by this video clip

God dammit !!! Steve McClaren has just been appointed England manager......and they gave him a 4 year contract.

I'm too depressed to write anything.

It's been an awful weekend for England supporters. Saturday lunchtime's game at Stamford Bridge between Chelsea and Man Utd was the clash of the day which would see Chelsea crowned champions if they avoided defeat. In the end, the game will be remembered as the day the Curse of the Metatarsal struck England yet again. Near the end of the game, Chelsea defender Paulo Ferreira put it an inoculous challenge on Rooney who collapsed in pain and was stretchered off. It turns out that Rooney has broken his 4th metatarsal and the expected recovery time is 6 weeks. England open their world cup campaign against Paraguay in 6 weeks. The big problem is that Eriksson has to name the England squad in just 2 weeks so a big decision has to be made.

If the Rooney injury wasn't bad enough, John Terry also left the ground on crutches after having 11 stitches in a foot injury when Rooney tackled him, although it's not thought to be serious. That wasn't the end of it, as Michael Owen, making his comeback for Newcastle against Birmingham came off saying he felt some discomfort. Thankfully, reports today say Owen is fine and should be OK.

All the news was a follow on to the news that Big Phil Scolari had withdrawn from race to become England manager. He cited the fact that there had been 20 reporters camped outside his house since news broke that he was the FA's first choice and there were also reports one of his children had been threatened. This is a real embarrassment for the FA and Brian Barwick. You may remember a couple of years ago, the debacle with ITV Digital going bust owing millions to lower league clubs. Take a guess who was in charge of ITV Digital at the time.......thats right, Brian Barwick.

The whole managerial merry-go-round is in full swing. Now or in the near future, there are likely to be manager vacancies for England, Newcastle, Charlton, Villa, Portsmouth, Middlesborough and possibly Birmingham. Favourite for the England job appears to be Middlesboro boss, Steve McClaren. He has just lead Boro to the UEFA Cup final against Seville and is already part of the current England setup. For me, that is where the problem lies. I'm no fan of the way things are done. 19 a side friendlies played with no pride or passion are a joke. Eriksson has shown that a number of players are all but undroppable and I'm not convinced things won't change if McClaren gets the job. The sad fact is, there is no obvious candidate for the job and whoever we get is definitely going to have short falling in one or more areas. The important thing is to get stability asap as once the World Cup is over, it's only a few weeks until the home friendly on 16th August and the start of the Euro 2008 qualifiers.