WELL, we've made it through to the quarter-finals of the World Cup without playing well - and that's fine by me.

It doesn't matter that we've been less than convincing up to this point because for all intents and purposes the tournament starts here.

The 32 teams have been whittled down to six today and there are no easy games from now on.

But having said that, I fancy us to beat Portugal this afternoon.

They're missing two of their best players and more than that - we owe them one for Euro 2004.

Deco is going to be a big loss for them but I'm more interested in what we do.

I'm hoping we can put on a really good show and send out a message to the teams remaining in the competition.

Saying that, if the ball goes in off somebody's backside and we fluke a 1-0 win then I'll be happy enough.

But it would be nice to really put on a good show.

If you look at teams like Brazil, Italy and France - they all improved over the course of the tournament.

Some people will say that Brazil aren't playing well but that comes with the name.

Nothing but brilliance will do from the Samba Boys or the critics are out in force.

But they're scoring goals and winning games and you can't ask for more than that. I expect them to beat France tonight - and set up a semi-final clash with our boys.

England are not playing as a unit at the moment and there's huge room for improvement.

Gary Neville is back in, so defensively I think we'll be sound. But Sven needs to think long and hard about how he's going to set the rest of the team up.

I would personally go 4-4-2 with Peter Crouch and Wayne Rooney up front. I don't think Rooney is suited to leading the line on his own.

We've played really well in patches but at other times it seems that some players don't really know what their role is.

Rooney prefers to drop deeper and get involved in the play and at times against Ecuador he was almost at the halfway line.

It's a shame Alan Shearer isn't still playing because he would have fitted that role perfectly.

It's going to be a big game for Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard - and they need to drive us forward.

Lampard has done well for us in my view. He's missing chances at the moment, but he's in the right positions.

No one will care if England don't play well but are holding aloft the World Cup on July 9, will they?

Agree? Disagree?
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