England starts their world cup campaign against Paraguay in Frankfurt, and I have to say I am very excited, yet very nervous at the same time. But England made a good start with their latest friendly against Jamaica, thumping the team from the Caribbean for six. Liverpool man Peter Crouch certainly makes a very influential case for a starting place in the world cup squad scoring a hat-trick (28mins, 66mins, and 88mins) on the day and it could have been four if it wasn’t for his scuffed penalty attempt. Frank Lampard (10mins) and Michael Owen (31mins) also got on the scorecard, as did Jamaican Jermaine Taylor; unfortunately it was in his own goal, so a day to forget for Jamaica then! Some will say that England should have won the game easily as Jamaica are hardly the toughest of teams to beat, but the England players acquitted themselves brilliantly to win in such emphatic style, and will send the team into the finals on a high. I for one hope that Eriksson will start the game with Crouch on the field, and let Liverpool team-mate Gerrard drop back into midfield where he is more at home, he never looked convincing as a out and out striker playing just behind Owen. I reckon that Crouch and Owen could be a great partnership up front backed up by Lampard and Gerrard in midfield! Ideally it would be great if Wayne Rooney was fit for the tournament, but he’s unlikely to play until the later stages of the tournament, assuming that England get that far, personally I think it would be better to take another striker and leave Rooney at home as even if he’s given the all all-clear to play, he wont be a full fitness and I question his ability to make an impact while not fully fit! I would also like to see Aaron Lennon take over Beckham’s role on the right wing, he’s faster, more agile and younger than Beckham, and I think that England need more pace down the right. Beckham is better at getting crosses into the danger area, but in my opinion, Lennon is an all round better player than Beckham. I don’t dislike Beckham, but I think that he has been surpassed by Lennon, and Spurs midfielder is the future, but Eriksson will staunchly stick with Beckham as he has done since he took over as England coach! One final thing, what the hell is Peter Crouch’s robot dance all about? He’s done it three times in two games now, what’s it referring to? As far as I am concerned as he keeps scoring goals, dance away!