World Cup 2014: wildcards!

Speculation has already begun with regard to the players who will be replacing England’s golden generation – a generation which is approaching the end of its tenure as custodians of the nation’s hopes. World Cup 2010 has again exposed England as being too sluggish and inflexible to compete with the best at international level. England haven’t made a major tournament final in 44 years, and were made to look particularly mediocre by Germany this year. History suggests that England need to start playing a different type of football at international level if the pattern is to be broken. Players are needed that can help to embed a more contemporary footballing culture.

It’s not at all clear who is lined up to become England’s equivalents of German stars Mesut Ozil and Thomas Muller. But several young players are tipped to make the leap to senior international level and these include midfielders Jack Rodwell and Jack Wilshere, and defender Keiran Gibbs. It’s also not easy to predict who will be joining Wayne Rooney in attack, but Frazier Campbell is one possibility. Below WCC explores a few wildcards that might make an impact at World Cup 2014.

Fabian Delph has only been lightly used at Aston Villa since Martin O’Neill signed him from Leeds. He’s a lightweight, but skilful and mobile midfielder. Although he doesn’t appear very robust, he is brave and committed. Delph is comfortable on the ball and likes to run at players. He could therefore develop into the type of contemporary playmaker that England require. Whilst he has been used centrally during his sporadic appearances for Aston Villa, it appears that he has the requisites to perform to good effect on the flank. Delph should hopefully have opportunities to build upon his reputation this forthcoming season.

18-year-old Phil Jones broke into Blackburn’s first team towards the end of last season, playing in their final nine games of the Premier League campaign. The centre-back position used to be one of England’s strongest and most settled positions. But it’s not clear who will step up to replace injury-prone Rio Ferdinand and one-paced John Terry. Jones’s appearances for Blackburn received favourable comment, and also coincided with a reasonable period of form for a side that finished 10th in the Premier League. Jones was confronted with Didier Drogba on his league debut and he acquitted himself well. He’s only 5ft 11″ tall, so could offer something different to the large and slow English central defender template.

WCC devised a method of weighting Fantasy Football statistics, which set out to show players whose talents may be masked by the fact that they resided within low performing teams. This approach showed that Jamie O’Hara‘s performances over last season’s Premier League campaign were perhaps more significant than the brute facts suggested – O’Hara was on loan from Tottenham with relegated Portsmouth. Hara isn’t the fastest but he is a hard-working and tenacious midfielder who could perhaps become England’s Sami Khedira! He’s left-footed and can play on the flank or centrally. If O’Hara plays for high profile Premier League team, then he could also be given a chance at senior international level.