England may have scored six goals against San Marino yesterday, with the Arsenal striker Theo Walcott scoring twice, but the fact is that the tiny Republic had a total of zero points before the game and have probably only won one game in their whole history. In fact in the 7 Qualifying games so far San Marino have conceded 25 goals and scored exactly ZERO, so this game can hardly give us a pointer to England’s chances in the Euros next summer.
Conversely, Switzerland have won 5 out of their 7 games and lie just six points behind Roy Hodgson’s men. The reverse fixture was won 2-0 by England but their second goal only came in the 94th minute, so the Swiss have proven they are no pushovers.
Walcott believes Tuesday’s game will give England a bigger threat to their current 100% record. “It’s always difficult when you are away from each other for a long time, but we had an extra day to train this week and everyone knows how it all works,” Walcott told the FA. “We blended well and have been working towards the Switzerland game as much as this one.
“Everyone has been on it in training and it shows the passion and winning mentality is there – that’s what we want in the dressing room.”
“This team is getting better and better but we can improve definitely going in to the tournament and we have a big test on Tuesday. It will be different to today,” Walcott continued. “Now it’s all about recovering and working towards the Switzerland game which will be a completely different test.”
England may be unbeaten in Qualifying, but they really have not come up against any strong teams at all, and Switzerland are definitely the best of a poor bunch. They will have to win this one convincingly if they are to persuade the fans that they have a real chance against the big guns next summer….