Roy : 'It's Been Three Weeks of Excellent Preparation'

England survived a 40 minute lightning delay and a bad tempered secound half against Honduras to ensure they would start their World Cup campaign with a full squad of 23. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has recovered from his knee injury and now England, who are situated at the Royal Tulip Hotel and training on a secure military base will turn their attention to Italy.

Although England's results have hardly warranted much praise, a 2-2 draw against Ecuador, followed by a 0-0 bore-draw against Honduras, the team is travelling to Brazil with confidence high, after an excellent preparation period.

Speaking after landing in Brazil, Roy commented:

"It has been three excellent weeks of preparation.

"The squad is growing stronger, they are bonding together very well and the mood is one of quiet optimism and a reasonable degree of confidence.

"That is all you can hope for.

"Now is when the real football begins and I am happy that we are in good spirits and the players have really done as much as we could ask of them."

England at times have looked devoid of ideas. However they have also shown that they can play attractive, fast paced attacking football. Now Roy will need to pick the team that gives us the best chance of winning, and there could be some very difficult decisions on the horizon.

Does Jack Wilshere partner Steven Gerrard in midfield? Personally I have to think that Henderson has done enough to warrant starting ahead of Jack, and I can't see all three of them playing.

Who starts out of Lallana, Welbeck, Ox and Sterling? That may be the biggest question that needs answering. I would still like to see a combination of Lallana, Ox and Sterling but that would mean omitting Wayne Rooney from the team.

There are still a lot of questions to be answered, but I'm happy to see all players arrive in Rio fit and raring to go.