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Out of pure interest, I took a look back at the 23 man squad that travelled to South Africa to represent England in the last World Cup. Thinking about it now, I can't believe that some of these players made it onto the plane and it also gives me a clearer idea as to why we looked completely outmatched when we faced the young German squad. So below I'm going to list the 23, and I have drawn a line through all the players who will either definitely not be on the plane to Brazil, or who I doubt will be:
1. David James
2. Glen Johnson
3. Ashley Cole
4. Steven Gerrard
5. Michael Dawson
6. John Terry
7. Aaron Lennon
8. Franks Lampard
9. Peter Crouch
10. Wayne Rooney
11. Joe Cole
12. Robert Green
13. Stephen Warnock
14. Gareth Barry
15. Matthew Upson
16. James Milner
17. Shaun Wright-Phillips
18. Jamie Carragher
19. Jermain Defoe
20. Ledley King
21. Emile Heskey
22. Michael Carrick
23. Joe Hart
So of the 23 players that represented England in 2010, I only have 8 currently on the plane to Brazil. I'm not sure if Dawson or Lampard will make it, so it could be as low as 6 players carried over from 2010 to 2014. Now four years is a long time, but I think when you look at that squad you quickly realise why we didn't progress further than the last 16. There is very little youth or pace included and when you are relying on the likes of Millner, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Joe Cole to come on and change the game then you are in trouble.
I don't think anyone can dispute that this is a transition team but if you put together your provisional squad for the 2014 World Cup, it's going to be a lot better than that. The fact that Theo Walcott couldn't get into this squad ahead of Cole, SWP, Lennon and Milner, speaks volumes for where we were four years ago.
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