USA, Algeria and Slovenia – surely it could not be any better for England? Well, has anybody thought that maybe this isn’t the “dream group” that everyone believes it to be?

What I mean by this is, is it too easy? Can there ever be such a thing? When it comes to England, yes there can.

As it is, our boys will beat Algeria and Slovenia after probably edging past a semi-ok USA side. It’s quite likely we’ll go through as group winners and enter the first knockout round with a nice run of form behind them. Perfect.

Only, maybe it isn’t. Problem is, England never play in isolation of their supporters or, more importantly, their supporter’s pressure. By only beating no-hopers England will whip-up their dangerous (largely lower-league team supporting) stadium-dwelling zealots, desperate to bask in the reflected glory of success – any success, be it against Slovenia or Bermondsey Amputees Society. Not to mention the beer-addled, pub-stool, fanatics back in Blighty, fuelling the tabloids with their rabidly red-rose tinted specs: “We beat Algeria 2-1 – bring on the Krauts, bring on the ‘Winker’, bring on Brazilians, we’re gonna win the World Cup! Vindalooooooo!”

And the pressure will have mounted up after just three games. Pressure largely based on a lot of nothing and, of course, it’s pressure that usually does for England rather than any lack of ability, all just in time for the knockout-stages when we finally get the decent teams. Talk about self-destruction.

So, let’s turn things around. What if England had drawn USA (as one of the toughest draws from that particular pot, let’s keep them in), Ivory Coast and France last Friday? Disaster!

But hang on, there’s nothing close to impossible there. Indeed, if you fill out a World Cup (as most of us have done already), England seem more than likely to face France in the Quarter-Finals – and the feeling is that a ragged France, who only qualified courtesy of a dodgy hand-ball, are eminently beatable.

So why shouldn’t they be beatable at the group stages? As for Ivory Coast, Didier Drogba is certainly to be feared but is the rest of their team as good? Could you even name the other ten players? Sure, the USA will be really “up for it”, but man-for-man there’s no contest: our players are far superior.

Plus, were we to qualify first out from such a “group of death” – and I put it to you that we could – then yes, we’d still have all the drum-banging, chest-beating, tub-thumping hyperbole of being on the way to glory, only it would be based upon the tangible evidence of having beating good (though not invincible) nations.

Unlike Italy or Germany, England as a team thrives upon confidence rather than an inherent, arrogant (a good thing if you ask me), belief in ability. After all, those nations can look at the history books and feel confident. We cannot.

What I’m driving at is, with their actual group, England’s confidence – fragile at the best of times – serves to be inspired by false hope given their group, and past examples show the team cannot protect their confidence from the twin dangers of a) quality opposition and b) the pressure of a self-destructively, over-excitable, fan base. Each as deadly as the other.

Yes, we may well arrive at the Quarter-Finals with a 100 per cent win record but then we’ll have to face pedigree for the first time. Suddenly, panic fills the air, fills the terraces, penalties beckon and the dream is over before it ever really began. Again.

Strikes me that we all want England to avoid anything close to a challenge in order to bring the World Cup home. But the chances of that are nil. You don’t go to a gym, lift only small weights, then expect to bench-press 100kgs – so why do we hope England can beat the best if we only want to them to face mediocrity during the tournament?

Yes form is important but Team England is a strange beast. Ordinarily in a tournament, form is everything. Italy will probably start slowly, then build momentum and go far, it’s the classic case of form helping a side with above average players to do well.

But we’re different. As England, our players always seem more fragile mentally. We all know how good they are – they know how good they are – but pull on that white shirt and suddenly convictions begin to pale. They need to feel that they’re good, really good, and that won’t come from beating minnows.

Consequently, when the going gets tougher, they’ll feel confounded, just like supporters in the stands will feel. “But, this tactic worked against Algeria/Slovenia/etc!” everyone will panic, and in that moment we’ll realise that we’d simply been sleepwalking and that reality is, crushingly, different.

There’ll be no recent precedent to fall back on, to remember, or to inspire. Yet if England had overcome a rampaging Drogba or dismissed Henry et al, than the well of confidence would genuinely be full, instead of being just a mirage of to-be-expected results, with little galvanising quality to them after all.

And on that note, what if England get through their group (their actual group) without being as comprehensive as they should be, what then? We fans will be baying, gnawing at the confidence of Our Lads like a nervous finger at a seam. And what good will that do?

Of course, this rather abstract theory may well be proved wrong. If so, various comment-posters will undoubtedly, ‘politely’, remind me of my misplaced doubts. Only I won’t care and neither should they. We’ll have won the bloody thing anyway.

But if we don’t win it, if we’ve been knocked-out on pens again, or wilted vaingloriously, or whatever, then just maybe we should be hope for a tougher draw next time around – and give ourselves a real chance.