England will never have a better chance. Our players must relish this challenge

ENGLAND’S players can look at each other today and say we will never have a greater chance of making progress in a World Cup. They could be in the semi-finals by Saturday night. We played poorly against Belgium and Colombia represent a greater knockout challenge than Japan. But I’d be hugely disappointed as a player if I didn’t take the opportunity that lies ahead. The exits suffered by Spain yesterday and Portugal on Saturday night underline how open this tournament is. There are no dominant teams and if they beat Colombia, England potentially have a golden path in front of them. For me, only one or two of the England shadow squad that faced Belgium can hold their hands up and say they staked a claim for a place tomorrow. In fact, if I’d been one of them I’d have felt I let myself down. It made Gareth Southgate’s selection a lot easier but if they have anything about them it should make training feisty and give England the intensity in the build-up they require. If Dele Alli is fit, I’d say only Raheem Sterling’s place is under threat, with Marcus Rashford pressing for a start. I thought Marcus was bright and worked hard against Belgium, as did Jamie Vardy, but with little support and only scraps to feed off. The trouble for Marcus is that he needs to finish the chances he gets. He gets into good positions but he’s got to be clinical. No-one threatened Jordan Henderson’s place. Our midfield didn’t create anything of note, especially when you compare them to how Mousa Dembele and Marouane Fellaini took the initiative. They were always available, better on the ball and a constant threat. Eric Dier, Fabian Delph and Ruben LoftusCheek cannot say they nailed it. And Danny Rose struggled for the goal against Adnan Januzaj — he should have shown him the outside and should have blocked an earlier cross for Fellaini’s best chance. Danny’s a good player but he maybe showed his rustiness from coming off a season with niggly injuries. I don’t see Ashley Young being displaced, or any of the regular back five. But I don’t like to be critical because, from personal experience, it’s the last thing you want to read as a player when isolated with your thoughts in the camp. You want the public’s support. This is where Gareth really needs to get to work, though. The competition among the squad should be fierce and training should have the intensity of a match but shorter, to keep energy levels up. With his selection against Belgium, the gauntlet has been thrown down by Gareth and it’s for all of them to pick it up. As a player, you always focus on what is in front of you but you can’t helping looking down the line to see the permutations of what happens if you win. Sweden or Switzerland are both tough but we know we can beat them at our best. Colombia are first up and they are unpredictable. The injury to James Rodriguez may help us but Falcao still has great know-how up front and the two centre backs are very strong athletes. They’ve been guilty of poor concentration but you would think their focus will be right for a game of this size. Our focus must be right, too. We have to relish the challenge. We’ve got to take this opportunity, it may not come around again.