Should England Persist With This Team for Euro 08?

Guus Hiddink's men were supposed to dismantle the make-shift England's team and gave McClaren a lesson in soccer. Turns out that England demolished the Russians with a 3-0 result instead.

Once again, Gareth Barry gave a credible performance and the long-awaited return of Michael Owen has rekindled England's hopes of a major trophy since 1966. The worry that Owen's poacher's instinct and accuracy in front of goal were eroded by his injuries has dissipated over the last week as the goals start flowing.

Rooney will have to prove that he is still the premiere choice after he returns from injury as the Owen-Heskey combination now looks very good on paper. However, remember that the David-Goliath pair-up was used before and can be ineffective when the opponents got to studying and exploiting the weakness. A rotation involving all three strikers, with Peter Crouch making cameo appearances, will be a much better option.

Micah Richards was effective in blocking the Russian's attack down the right flank and the question now is whether Gary Neville should retire from the international scene and focus on his club. That will surely prolong his playing career and both Alan Shearer and Paul Scholes have proven that they enjoyed a new lease of life when they did that. However, Micah will have to be more adventurous and put in the overlapping runs and make those crosses at the bye-line to fully replace Neville's importance to the team.

The next question is of course Gareth Barry's position. If anything, he was not supposed to be in England's lineup and he will have to come after Lampard, Hargreaves and Michael Carrick in the pecking order. However, two qualifying matches later, he now stands a very good chance of displacing Frank Lampard as first choice for the central midfielder's role.

Now, let's not misunderstand that Frank Lampard is useless. Based on his club performance and prolific goals from midfield, he is a shoo-in for the job. Nevertheless, he has shown in many matches that he prefers to score the goals, instead of creating the chances for the front-line. (It is still ok if he converts but when he balloons all the chances...). That is his greatest failing and the fans are not blind to this fact.

Shaun-Wright Phillips, after spending time in exile while at Chelsea, has shown that Mourinho may have made a serious mistake of not doing more to uncover the hidden potential within this raw talent. That would definitely have benefited England if Joe Cole and SWP are both playing pivotal roles in Chelsea. At the moment, David Beckham can concentrate on recuperating from his injuries as England do not need his service.

England should not be complacent and must win the remaining three matches as Russia is still in a promising position and can overtake them to qualify for Euro 2008. Meanwhile, keep this team going.