AS GOOD AS IT GETS

A historic 5-1 win in 2001 over Germany in Munich began a phase where England seemed to improve year on year. Serie A-winning Sven-Goran Eriksson, the first foreign Three Lions manager, fielded centre-backs Sol Campbell and Rio Ferdinand, full-backs Gary Neville and Ashley Cole, midfielders Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard and David Beckham, and that year’s Ballon d’Or winning striker Michael Owen as his side emphatically swept away memories of semi-final defeats on penalties to the eventual winners of World Cup 1990 and of Euro 1996 on home soil.

Despite injury problems the Three Lions reached the 2002 World Cup quarter-final before they beaten by eventual winners Brazil. Euro 2004 saw Ferdinand miss out through suspension but John Terry proved an able replacement, while midfielder Frank Lampard was added as Scholes moved out to the left. Teenage forward Wayne Rooney looked to complete the side but he limped off injured as host nations Portugal went on to win defeat England on penalties in their quarter-final.

Jose Mourinho then assembled a Chelsea title-winning side around a young English core of Terry and Lampard, while Steven Gerrard inspired Liverpool to a historic 2005 Champions League triumph, adding to a sense of pride in the Three Lions.

FEARFUL ‘GOLDEN’ GENERATION REPLACED BY YOUNGER LIONS

Forty years after lifting the World Cup on home soil, it seemed like the 2006 World Cup in Germany represented the moment for the ‘Golden Generation’ of players to capitalize on their talent. But amid a media circus of reporting on what their WAGs (Wives and Girlfriends) were up to, the Three Lions struggled under the pressure.

Things then went wrong when first Michael Owen was lost to serious injury and then Rooney, who had been rushed back from injury and left short of full fitness before being asked to step in as a lone striker, let his frustration get the better of him and he was sent off in a quarter-final where Portugal were again victorious on penalties. Owen Hargreaves was the only positive from the tournament, but the energetic midfielder failed to star for the national team again after injury problems.

Assistant manager Steve McLaren took charge but flopped and his team missed out on qualification for Euro 2008 as a fear of failing to live up to expectation took hold. The FA hoped legendary manager Fabio Capello could make the most of the players at his disposal, but like at the previous World Cup the Three Lions looked tame and were humbled 4-1 by Germany in the round-of-16. He qualified the side for Euro 2012 but his resignation following the FA’s decision to strip the captaincy from John Terry, coupled with the FA’s lengthy search for a replacement, meant a new manager had so little time in charge before Euro 2012 it seemed time to admit that the dream was over.

Following his appointment Roy Hodgson installed a pragmatic 4-4-2 that saw new faces such as Joe Hart, James Milner, and Danny Welbeck complement an experienced core of Cole, Terry, Gerrard and Rooney to go out at the quarter-final stage on penalties to Italy, who then knocked out the fearsome Germany to reach the final. But that set the stage for the likes of Andros Townsend, now ruled out by injury, and Daniel Sturridge to begin to lift the culture of fear that had dominated of late during qualification for World Cup 2014 in Brazil, where the Three Lions will compete as underdogs.