Anyone who knows me knows full well that I'm not exactly one of life's great optimists.

My view on life is always to expect the worst - the glass is never half-full I say.

So it is perhaps no surprise that when it comes to England's prospects for the World Cup, frankly, I'm worried.

In this case though, I think this is a bit more than needless negativity. It is based on genuine concerns - and I'm not just talking about the Roonster's metatarsal.

Here, in no particular order, are the things which are keeping me awake at night:

  • Is Michael Owen fit?
  • Have we taken enough strikers?
  • Does our manager have a Scooby Doo about tactics? Or does he think they are a brand of mint?
  • What happens if Robbo gets crocked, bearing in mind former jockey Willie Carson and a Teflon-gloved buffoon are our back-up options?
  • Will Gerrard and Lampard play like they do for their clubs, or in the ineffective way they always seem to for England?
  • Is our group actually that easy? (Paraguay have a good record of upsetting big teams and we never beat Sweden)

And the ultimate:

  • He's not going to play Owen Hargreaves is he? Is he? Is he?

Perhaps I'm just being me, perhaps my fears are unfounded, perhaps Jules Rimet will indeed be gleaming in Becks's hands come July 9.

For some reason though, I doubt it. We have a great squad and a half-decent draw, but I have awful visions of it all ending in tears.

What do you all think?

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