I hope England do well for a change. With the quality and depth of talent in the present England squad I think they finally have the team that was always being promised in 4 years time for the past 16 years.

The problem with England is that although they claim to be unlucky in penalty shoot-outs, but look at the facts:

E 2004:
Finish 2nd in group. Lucky to reach penalty shoot-out against Portugal. Lose.
W 2002:
Finish 2nd in group - played well against Sweden for a draw, got a scrappy 1-0 win against Argentina requiring a penalty, played a boring 0-0 draw with Nigeria. Beat a poor Denmark 3-0. Played an exciting first half and then a terrible second half to crash out to Brazil 2-1.
E 2000:
Finish 3rd in group - throw away a great lead against Portugal, beat a dire Germany and then throw it away again against Romania.
W 1998:
Finish 2nd in group - beat Tunisia and Columbia easily enough, but lose to Romania. Eliminated in a gripping game against Argentina on penalties.
E 1996:
Finish **1st** in group - embarrassinly draw with Switzerland, but then beat Scotland and stuff the Netherlands. Hold on against Spain to win on a **penalty shoot out**. Lose to Germany on a penalty shoot out.

England haven't won their group since 1996 - when they were the hosts. If they can't win their group, they cannot expect to win the competition easily.