Favourable Draw For England

England were handed a major boost to their World Cup preparations when they were grouped with USA, Algeria and Slovenia in World Cup Group C last night. David Beckham was helping with the tiny balls but he must have felt as excited as a child when England's opponents were picked out of the hats. He did well to conceal that excitement though.

It looks as though England will be on course to meet Ghana in the second round, France in the quarters, Brazil in the semis and any of Argentina, Italy, Germany, Spain, and Portugal or Ivory Coast in a potential final match-up.

With 188 days to go, Capello now needs to get those 23 players in his mind that will be making up the World Cup squad. And we need to pray that key players plying their trade with Man.Utd and Chelsea don't get injured or suffer from burn-out after what will be a long season challenging for top honours domestically and on the continent.

Every time a World Cup comes around it's very exciting and I'm currently looking at the draw and knock-out rounds, assessing each possibility and potential opponent, straining to convince myself that England can eventually do it and go all the way. Only time will tell.