Doha, November 11 (QNA) – After the great success in Russia four years ago and their qualification to the semi-finals for the first time in more than three decades, England have regained its football standing and can think of winning the world title for the second time at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
Despite the old age of most of its influential players, and the teams suffering, especially after the recent failure to defeat Hungary (0-4), England remains a threat to the competitors in the Qatar World Cup this year, in its quest to repeat the achievement of winning the title in 1966.
With the youth system struggling to provide new talents, coach Gareth Southgate may find himself in the World Cup finals in Qatar with a squad with an average age of 28 years.
It will be difficult for Southgate, who has recently been sacked by the English fans, in choosing the ideal squad for the Qatar World Cup, especially in light of the decline in the performance of a number of players in recent matches, as well as his fear of repeating the adventure with young players.
Southgate has relied in the England squad in recent years on a distinguished group of players backed by passion, strength and ambition to achieve victories, most notably: Harry Kane, Declan Rice, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho.
England’s success during the World Cup in Qatar will depend largely on the team’s squad, which will not stray far from the names that participated in the Euro 2020 finals, and advanced to the final before losing to Italy on penalties (2-3).
The England national team is competing in the Qatar World Cup in Group B, which includes America, Wales and Iran, which makes it one of the strong candidates to overcome the first round and continue its journey in the competition.
England will start their World Cup campaign against Iran on Nov. 21, and then meet in the second round with America on Nov.25, to conclude their matches in the first round with Wales on Nov. 29.
The English Football Association chose Souq Waqif Hotel as the national team’s headquarters during the tournament period, and it will train at Al Wakra Sports Club stadium.
The England team has ample chances of competing for the title in the World Cup in Qatar and repeating the missing achievement for 56 years, as it is an extraordinary candidate to lead the second group, and qualify for the second round.
And if England lead its group and continue the journey, and ascended to quarter-finals, the team would be on a date with a strong confrontation, whether with Argentina or France.
England qualified for the World Cup in Qatar for the 16th time in its history, after leading the 9th group of European qualifiers with 26 points from eight victories and two draws, ahead of Poland, which ranked second with 20 points, Albania, which finished third with 18 points, and Hungary fourth (17 points), Andorra fifth (6 points), and San Marino sixth with no points.
England, whose Football Association was established in 1863, has a great football history, both on the global and continental level, as it succeeded in qualifying for the World Cup finals on 16 occasions.
Although England did not participate in the World Cup tournaments until 1950, it did participate in 15 of the subsequent 18 editions, after failing to qualify for the finals on three occasions in 1974 (West Germany), 1978 (Argentina) and 1994 (United States).
The England national team has a distinguished history in the World Cup finals, but it did not succeed in passing the group stage on only three occasions, and it was in 1950, 1958 and 2014.
As for the best performance of the English ever in the world cups, it was in the 1966 championship that was held on their land, where they crowned their efforts during this version with their only title in the World Cup. The English also ranked fourth on two occasions in 1990 in Italy, and 2018 in Russia in the last version, knowing that they have qualified for the quarter-finals on nine occasions, the last of which was in 2006 in Germany.
England played 69 matches in the World Cup finals during its previous fifteen participations, during which it managed to achieve 30 victories, 20 draws, 19 losses, while it scored 91 goals and conceded 64 goals.
At the European level, England participated in the UEFA European Championship on ten occasions, most notably the last version (Euro 2020), in which it lost the title on penalties to Italy, with a 2-3 score.
During England’s participation in the UEFA European Championship, England achieved third place in 1968, and fourth place in 1996, while qualifying for the quarter-finals in 2004 and 2012, and the last eight in 2016, while failing to overcome the first round on four occasions.
England played 38 matches in the UEFA European Championship finals during its ten participations, during which it managed to achieve 15 victories, 12 draws, 11 losses, while it scored 51 goals and conceded 37.
The England national team is known for many stars over the generations, perhaps the most prominent of them are: Bobby Charlton, Bobby Moore, Jordan Banks, Alan Shearer, David Seaman, Kevin Keegan, Gary Lineker, David Beckham, Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney.
In Qatar World Cup, brilliant players will shine in the England squad, led by striker Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling, goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, John Stones, and other names that we will follow in the tournament. (QNA)