O'Neil Backs England For Finals

I'm lucky enough to have shared a pint with Martin O'Neil in the bar of Sandy Lane Golf Course in Barbados a couple of years ago and you could tell he's a cool customer who knows the game inside out. And despite England's poor recent run of form he's still confident that they'll make it to the Euro 2008 finals in Austria and Switzerland next year.

He told ITV:

The most important thing is England qualifying. Will they qualify from their group? Yes. I always think friendly matches such as the recent one with Spain are notorious for the result not being so clever.

"The lambasting tends to last a long time after that. England's main games are the qualifiers and I don't think too many people would think they won't qualify.

"Why will England qualify? Because they are good enough. They might drop a point or two. But two sides qualify from the group and they will qualify. They are pretty decent.

"They have really decent players and the squad has a fairly substantive body to it but you could still do with your best players, some of which weren't there against Spain. If Wayne Rooney is playing in the side, you've always got a chance. He is a key figure."