Sven-goran Eriksson’s England will be looking to take out their World Cup frustration on some of the weakest teams in Europe this season when they start the long road to Portugal and the 2004 European Championship. England returned from Japan with their pride in tact — having survived the Group of Fear, defeating old enemies Argentina along the way, and then hammering Denmark before bowing out to eventual champions Brazil in the quarter-finals.But there was also an overwhelming sense that England had missed a chance to land football’s greatest prize. Held back by a seemingly unending run of injuries, England also paid the price for their lack of experience in the 2-1 defeat to the South Americans at Shizuoka.Nearly two months later, Eriksson has still not digested the defeat, saying last week: “The one thing we said to the players was that with the team that we have, we should not be afraid of anyone and, if we are a little bit lucky, we could go all the way.“I still think we could have done it,” he said, echoing the sentiments of skipper David Beckham at their Awaji Island base just a day after that defeat.Both men believe England will have gained valuable experience from the tournament — both from the way they contained Argentina beneath the Sapporo Dome and the more painful second half against Brazil. But now they have to start putting that experience to good use by qualifying from Group Seven for the finals of Euro 2004 where, injuries permitting, England will be among the favourites. Much of the qualifying campaign will be academic, with the likes of Liechtenstein and Macedonia to play, along with the slightly trickier prospect of Slovakia, where England open their campaign on October 12 in Bratislava.However, one team stands out as barring their path to that automatic qualification place — Turkey, the surprise World Cup semi-finalists.Turkey’s emergence in international football, which has drawn on their progress at club level in Europe through the likes of 2000 UEFA Cup winners Galatasaray, will make topping the Group A difficult task for Eriksson’s men.The trip to Turkey, England’s final qualifier in October 2003, will also come three years after two Leeds United fans were stabbed to death during street brawls before a UEFA Cup tie in Istanbul against Galatasaray. The challenge facing England before then will be to rack up maximum points in all of their qualifiers and hope the Turks drop points along the way, thereby taking some or all of the sting out that final match. (Reuters)
