H, I believe factors such as easy groups etc irrelevant to our progress, by that I mean that the professionals should set their stall out from the beginning in that to be the best you must be prepared and capable of beating all opposition.
I agree that there are always shock results but usually only down to favoured team winning the game before they step onto the pitch. I also agree that other teams relish in playing us and are pumped up for the game, but in response we must have the discipline to play every game as if it were to be against Brazil or alike.
The England players are of an age now that they have only known dissapointment and they cannot continue to live off the success of 1966. They now have a job to do for not only them but the fans, most of the players play for some of the richest clubs in the world with/against most of the best players in the world, they are some of the best paid in the world that also train with some of the best facilities in the world and in what probably is the best league in the world. Other teams have nothing to lose where we have everything to lose and supporters and players should be wary of all opposition as it should keep us on our toes.
This world cup should not be about the wives or how much a player will be worth if he has a good run, this should be about that young person running around the school playground dreaming of scoring the winning goal in the World Cup Final for his country. There are millions of these people up and down the country that never got the chance of stepping onto a pitch and settle with spending hard earned money to travel and support these players.
To me there is no easy group, every team involved in the world cup is a threat to our success.
God, I go on at times sorry.