The Games Begin

Today marked the opening of England's valiant lions foray into what is largely expected to be another disappointing tournament for football's most tormented fans. As an English football fan myself i know what it is like to watch England fail to meet expectations tournament after tournament, yet for some reason (without explanation) the English football fan has a naivety nestled nicely into the corner of our brain which which whispers in a passion soaked hope, 'this is our year' without fail every two years. This being based on the fact that we actually qualify for the major tournaments, a feat that was just a bridge to far in Croatia in 2007, something i am sure to this day did not happen.

Once again we set off in Poland and Ukraine, however this year is different. For the first time that i can remember, there is not a huge weight on the shoulders of the English players, there are better teams in the tournament, something i find very hard to say, but it is true. Maybe the English public have come to terms with the fact that maybe this is not our year but the first building block on the way to a team which has the potential to to make its mark on world football, potentially on the hallowed pitches in Brazil in 2014 (That will be our year). The team that played it's first game against the French today is one which many have high hopes for in the future but are not expected to exceed a quarter final place in this tournament. Youth talent with the likes of Danny Wellbeck and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain both getting starting places in the line-up. Not to mention the deep lying talent that is not available or on the fringes of the squad. Players like Phil Jones, Kyle Walker, Chris Smalling have all proved that they can play at international level. Also, Jack Wiltshire and Tom Cleverley are both being touted as the future hearts of their respective teams. These players have all proven themselves in the last season as players who are the future of Premier League and English football, and if you are good enough at the top of Premier League you are good enough anywhere.

So the future does look bright for English football, it seems the underachieving storm clouds of 2008 are slowly starting to recede and are slowly being banished from the minds of the English faithful. You can't help but feel that sometime soon we are going to achieve something special, its slowly approaching 50 years since a last major tournament win, maybe its this year, maybe (probably) not, however this will not stop the English boys believing in that slight glimmer of hope that we can finally bring a bit of success back to the home of football.