2014 World Cup - Can England Still Make the 2nd Round?

Roy Hodgson's men weren't actually that bad against Italy.

In fact, they were more than a match for one of the most seasoned and veteran side in world football, and probably deserved to get at least a point against the 2006 world champions.

Alas, they didn't as they failed to respond to Mario Balotelli's header in the 2nd half, as Cesare Prandelli got most of his men behind the ball and thus England maintained their winless streak against the Azzurri - their last competitive fixtures against them, a penalty shootout defeat at EURO 2012, and a defeat in the 3rd/4th place playoff in Italia 1990.

It's a shame, as the moment Gary Cahill failed to beat Mario Balotelli in the air was probably one of the few times England were beaten by Italy in the game. Indeed, with a bit more luck, England would have won the game with Wayne Rooney, Daniel Sturridge and Raheem Sterling all looking dangerous up front.

Just as a former Liverpool man did 16 years ago, Raheem Sterling now has the chance to emulate the rise to stardom that Michael Owen experienced at the 1998 World Cup - he was definitely England's best player against Italy and should fancy his chances against Uruguay's porous defence and even surprise package, Costa Rica.  

Elsewhere, Raheem's Liverpool teammates, Jordan Henderson and Steven Gerrard mastered midfield well and Hodgson should stick with them for the now do-or-die game against Uruguay on Thursday evening.

Hodgson and England should take some encouragement from this game - Italy first up is never an easy task particularly considering how good this Italy side is - and they should be optimistic going into their next games against Uruguay and Costa Rica.

Uruguay hopes look Forlan..

Uruguay look a shambles of a side and I doubt that Luis Suarez will be able to rescue anything from this side particularly given his lack of current match fitness - their performance in the 2nd half against Costa Rica was shameful for a country with so much World Cup heritage as them. There were many poor individual performances against Los Tikos and just like Spain against Holland, it is going to take a lot of work to get them back where they should be.

As for Los Tikos, they can look forward to the game against Italy with much confidence and optimism - they're still expected to be the underdogs but Italy must now realise that Costa Rica are not the easybeats of the group as many expected them to be. There is quite a bit of flair in the side, most notably in Arsenal bound Joel Campbell.

The group of death looks set to be living up to its billing albeit not in the way many might have expected.

Finally, it has indeed been a cracking start to the World Cup - 15 goals in 4 games after 2 days represents a massive improvement over 2010 and 13 more at least from day 3 alone means a goal output of 28 from 8 games - 3 and a half goals a game. The group stages of the World Cup haven't been the problem in recent times - it's the knockouts which have been very defensive minded that have been the problem, although the conditions in Brazil as well as the apparent lack of defence might hopefully change that at last.