There were three positive things that came out of England’s friendly victory over Denmark.
(Play Matt’s free goal-prediction game on www.goaldengoals.co.uk and win £200 next month)
Raheem Sterling, Adam Lallana and Luke Shaw did themselves a power of good on the night even though it wasn’t the most exciting of games.
I’ve not seen too many competitive international friendly matches down the years and I don’t think we should expect too much from them.
But these three players can look back and take a lot of positives from the game.
Sterling looked a threat when he had the ball and, with a little more luck, could have scored.
Lallana once again showed individual skill in setting up the winner for Daniel Sturridge and looks nailed on for the 23-man squad for Brazil
And Shaw turned up after half-time for his international debut and performed as if he was playing in a home game at St. Mary’s.
He is a confident boy who doesn’t look as though he gets fazed by anything.
If Ashley Cole doesn’t play again for Chelsea this season-and it’s looking fairly likely-it wouldn’t surprise me if Roy Hodgson took Shaw to the World Cup Finals as back-up as opposed to Cole.
There was some talk by Hodgson before the match that this group of young players could establish themselves as England’s next “Golden Generation”.
Are we talking about those players that hadn’t got any farther than the quarter-final stages in any tournament anywhere in the world? Is that the “Golden Generation” he is talking about?
Deary me, I certainly wouldn’t say that the players we have at the moment are going to be any better than what we had back then.
From my points of view I think the “Golden Generation” tag should be ditched forever.
From the players we have got to choose from a quarter-final place in Brazil this summer should be considered a great effort.
What I want to come out of this tournament is to see some kind of hope for the squad going forward towards Euro 2016.
To see positive signs that England have a side capable of challenging the best teams to become champions of Europe.
To put it lightly we have not exactly got a tough qualifying group ahead of us have we in Switzerland, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania and San Marino?
If we don’t qualify for the finals in two years time there will be some very serious questions asked of our footballers let me tell you.
(Follow Matt’s blogs on www.goaldengoals.co.uk)
