England, let's go for it

It was a much improved England performance against Slovenia and it was needed because they couldn't risk playing so poorly again.

There seemed to be far more focus and determination about the players, and the passing, crossing and movement was generally better.

It was still edgy in the end because they missed chances to get the second goal and Slovenia put them under a little bit of pressure at times - Matthew Upson had to make a great tackle at one point.

Fabio Capello seems determined to stick with a 4-4-2 formation. Last week I wrote that I thought deploying Steven Gerrard behind Wayne Rooney was a better way to go, but it doesn't look like Capello is going to do that. He wants to keep the two up front as a double threat.

Jermain Defoe has sharp movement and I thought Rooney's general play was very good against Slovenia; he was unlucky with a couple of chances. So I think Capello will keep a similar team today against Germany, I can't see it changing after the performance against Slovenia.

Finishing second in the group has caused England problems, because they are now in a far more difficult side of the draw playing against Germany, and potentially against Argentina and Spain. Every player would have to play at their absolute best individually and collectively against those teams to get through.

I just hope they don't pay for their indifferent performance against Algeria in the group stage. There is no doubt England have made it extremely difficult for themselves, but the other way to look at it is they are three matches from the World Cup final.

I don't think this is the best German team you will ever see - but they're Germany. They are efficient, they can grind out results, they have a couple of very good players - the young lad Mesut Özil looks very talented - and they know how to get to the latter stages of tournaments because their players always have a great mentality.

England will have to be at their absolute best to win today's match, but I think they can. I really believe England have more talent than Germany. If you look at players such as Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney, Ashley Cole and Glen Johnson, there is more ability there. But the Germans won't be fazed by any English players; they'll be going onto the pitch believing they can win.

England do have a psychological barrier to get over in order to beat Germany at a World Cup, but there are players in the England squad who have suffered so much over the past four or five tournaments that they'll be thinking enough is enough, let's just go for it.

It will be a magnificent game to play in - it doesn't get any bigger than England vs Germany in the World Cup finals. These games do feel different and the build-ups are always interesting. There is huge history between the two countries.

I've had some great highs and terrible lows against Germany. I remember our 5-1 victory in Munich, but I also remember when they beat us 1-0 in the final game at the old Wembley under Kevin Keegan and, of course, when they beat us on penalties in the semi-final of Euro '96.

Franz Beckenbauer has had a lot to say about the England team in the World Cup so far. The Germans always have a very bullish confidence that at times borders on arrogance going into these type of matches because they just don't think they can lose, and that is one of their biggest strengths.

But the reality is there will be 11 players going out onto the pitch for Germany, and Beckenbauer won't be one of them. Whichever team plays better and gets a little bit of luck will win the game. Whatever anybody else says beforehand, including Beckenbauer - who was a great player - is an irrelevance.

Heroes to zeroes

I was shocked to see Italy go out of the World Cup so early, but I had written in previous weeks that this wasn't the right moment for them.

It was an Italy team that had its best moment four years ago. Italy is a strong nation and they'll come again. England have had many disappointments over the years, but big countries recover.

Sometimes the make-up of a squad just isn't right. If the balance isn't right between older and younger players, if you've lost a bit of talent, if key players have lost form, then you're team is likely to struggle. I didn't think Italy would be as weak as they were, but I did think the moment wasn't right for them.

Four years is a long time before the next World Cup and a lot can happen. Italy won the World Cup four years ago, England haven't won a World Cup for 44 years, so Italy's exit isn't the end of the world - these things happen.

Having said that, criticism of the Italian team at home is understandable. If England had gone out in the first round they would have faced a whole load of criticism. Italy are probably getting hammered at home, but if you play for one of the top clubs in Europe and represent your country then you will get criticised if you don't perform - you're there to face it.

Nevertheless, Italy have players who have been there before and who know that Italy's time will come again. Four years ago they were the heroes, now they're the villains - that's football.

Send your World Cup questions to Gary Neville to sunday@timesofmalta.com.