Euro 2012 team profiles

England
Team Profile: Surely it’s last chance saloon for the last members of so-called ‘Golden Generation’ – the likes of Steven Gerard, Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand? Euro 2012 will see England’s perennial underachievers pitted against hosts Ukraine, Sweden and France – perhaps one of the easier groups – but whether or not new manager Roy Hodgson can succeed where previous managers have failed remains to be seen. The hope is that England will finally come good and live up to the British media and fans’ expectations. Having failed to even qualify for the last European Championships and with only a couple of semi-final appearances as their previous best, quite how England top the EUFA rankings is unclear (if not outright weird), but if luck’s on their side and they manage to stave off injury – and avoid a penalty shootout against Germany – you never know, football might just be coming home this year.