Back in November we looked at England’s potential squad – the definites, possibles, maybes, and no-ways – and it looked pretty rosy, pretty balanced. Fast forward three months and it has a whole different, far more worrying appearance…

You can read the initial article by clicking here – but here is the squad we thought (at that time) would go:

David James, Rob Green, Paul Robinson

Ashley Cole, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Joleon Lescott, Matthew Upson, Glen Johnson, Wes Brown

Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Gareth Barry, Owen Hargreaves, Michael Carrick, Joe Cole, David Beckham, Aaron Lennon, Theo Walcott

Wayne Rooney, Emile Heskey, Jermaine Defoe, Peter Crouch

Let’s look at these in detail…

David James - Has barely played this season. Desperate to go on loan to ensure he doesn’t miss out. Needs to play pretty much all the rest of the season to make sure he is first choice. Although that air of calamity still clouds him. We must hope he does regain fitness and find form as the alternatives are borderline terrifying.

Rob Green – Had a big chance to step up while James was injured and failed to take it with either hand, making a couple of high profile errors. The fact many West Ham fans don’t like him speaks volumes.

Paul Robinson – Experiencing something of a renaissance at Blackburn but doubts persist over his ability to deal with both long-range shots and crosses.

Ashley Cole - No worries over form or fitness, he is playing some of the best football of his career and is physically resilient. Fingers crossed he does not get injured, as the alternative is Wayne Bridge.

John Terry – Captain spastic is playing well but is increasingly creaky in his old age. His back problems are particularly worrying.

Rio Ferdinand – Has been out injured for ages, although made his return for United recently. Undoubtedly world class on his day – but how many of them does he have left? Hopefully enough to get through South Africa.

Joleon Lescott – Somewhat disastrous at Man City. His place on the plane, let alone in the team, is in severe doubt.

Matthew Upson – Perhaps the only legitimate candidate should Terry or Ferdinand drop out – which is alarming.

Glen Johnson – Huge doubts linger over his defensive capabilities, and opposing teams often cite him as a weak point for both Liverpool and England. His potency going forward is not in doubt – but can we afford it?

Wes Brown - Was abysmal in United’s defeat to Leeds, given the runaround by League One striker Jermaine Beckford. Not a great sign.

Steven Gerrard – Has confessed himself that he’s in poor form – and has had crisis talks with Rafa. Not what we want from one of our supposedly world class players. Although for me his positional indiscipline prevents him from hitting that bracket, part of the reason he has never really shone for England.

Frank Lampard – Mr Dependable has looked a little out of sorts at times this season but seems to now have come into form. Always good for a few goals and a great engine. One of the least worrying.

Gareth Barry – Some seem to think he has been good for Man City, some think he has been disappointing. I’m not really sure. But if he is fit, he will play, and with the death of Owen Hargreaves and poor form of Michael Carrick he is a crucial member of the midfield.

Owen Hargreaves - R.I.P. Barring a miracle bordering on reincarnation he has missed the boat.

Michael Carrick – Seems to have fallen out with Fergie. Not being given much game time, much of which he has had has been at centre back, and he has not been playing well. Touch and go whether he will make it – perhaps will as the only credible understudy to Barry.

Joe Cole - Needs a storming second half of the season. Was England’s best player for a while before his injury and offers that special something that few others can provide. We need him to show he needs to be taken.

David Beckham – Keeps on chugging away. Always good for a 15 minute cameo and excellent dead ball delivery, and a great presence amongst the squad. If fit he will go.

Aaron Lennon – In good form, dangerous, and appears to have added an end product to his pace and penetration. Looks all the better relative to his rivals SWP and Walcott.

Theo Walcott – A giant fall from grace since his hat-trick in Croatia. May not even make the plane unless he starts playing – and well – for Arsenal.

Wayne Rooney – By a mile England’s most important player. Without him we would be fucked. Let’s hope and pray he doesn’t get injured between now and our inevitable quarter final exit.

Emile Heskey – Still sparks debate, still allows others to play around him, we still do better when he plays. First choice alongside Rooney upfront.

Jermaine Defoe – Banging them in, a great option from the bench.

Peter Crouch – Offers something different, and a viable alternative to Heskey alongside Rooney.

So there we have it. Concerns range from huge (Goalkeeper, Right Back, Rooney getting injured) to medium (everything else).We later amended it to include James Milner – who must now be pushing for a starting berth – but things certainly don’t look as good as they did a few weeks ago. Don Fabio must be sweating even more than usual.

England had already qualified before their defeat to the Ukraine – several other teams joined them on Saturday, including Italy after their last gasp equaliser against Ireland. Read on for a full round up of what is left to be decided (when time is short and articles are factual we tend to reproduce the best of the rest – that’s the case here, lawyers, we are reprinting an article from the ever-excellent Football365…)

A few teams joined England in qualifying for the World Cup over the weekend, the lucky devils.

Heartbreakingly for Ireland, champions Italy secured their place with Alberto Gilardino’s late equaliser, denying us all an entertaining Wednesday night waiting to see if they choked against Cyprus.

Germany also sealed their place, and boy did they deserve it after surviving a Russian battering of the Teutons not seen since 1941 to win 1-0 in Moscow. Denmark are also through after beating Sweden, while Serbia also booked their place with a rather emphatic 5-0 rogering of Romania.

That leaves not an awful lot up for grabs on Wednesday. Both automatic and runner-up spots are sorted in five of the nine groups, and two of the play-off places are more or less foregone conclusions. Ukraine only have to beat Andorra to finish second to England, while Portugal will stumble through with a victory over Malta.

Switzerland will have to make quite an effort not to qualify automatically from the turgid Group Two, as a draw will be enough at home to Israel. If they slip up, Greece can sneak through if/when they beat Luxembourg, and while Israel and Latvia can technically still qualify, they are relying on the Luxemburgers.

The most interesting European section is Group Three. Slovakia are two points ahead of Slovenia at the top, but have a tricky game in Poland, knowing that the Slovenians will beat San Marino. Their goal difference is identical, so a win is required if the Slovaks are to go through automatically.

Whoever wins the Czech Republic/Northern Ireland game can still mathematically claim a play-off spot, but that relies on San Marino winning, and given that they have only scored once and have a magnificently s**t goal difference of -43, that seems unlikely to say the least.

As things stand, the second-placed teams are ranked thusly (number of points after the games against the bottom team in their respective groups in brackets): Russia (15), Ukraine (15), Slovenia (14), Bosnia and Herzegovina (13), Greece (13), Portugal (13), France (12), Ireland (11) and Norway (10).

As Norway have played all their games, if all the second-placed teams stay as they are (and indeed all the bottom teams do) then the top eight in that list will go through to the play-offs. Of course, there are a whole bunch of permutations that will change that, but frankly, our heads are hurting in F365 Towers, so if you want to work it out yourselves, go right ahead. Or, you could enjoy your day and just wait until Wednesday night.

Elsewhere, Chile went through from the South American group with their win in Columbia, but there’s all sorts of jiggery-pokery to be sorted in the final round of games. After Martin Palermo’s 93rd-minute winner on Saturday (prompting these wet n’ wild scenes), Argentina currently occupy the fourth automatic spot, but only by a point, meaning they must avoid defeat in Uruguay to stop Diego Forlan’s boys overtaking.

Sixth-placed Ecuador aren’t out of it either. If they beat the already-qualified and depleted Chile, they will take the play-off spot, and could consign Argentina to a summer kicking their heels if things go against Diego’s troops in Uruguay. However, if the Argies get a point then they will most likely go through automatically, given their superior goal difference. Venezuela could technically take fifth spot, but that’s really very unlikely. Complicated, eh?

In CONCACAF, both Mexico and USA will be in South Africa, having secured their spots with wins over El Salvador and Honduras respectively. Costa Rica need a win in Washington to be sure of the final spot, with Honduras breathing down their necks.

In Africa, Ivory Coast are through after their draw with Malawi, but Togo’s loss to Cameroon means they won’t qualify. The rest have to wait until the final round of games in November to discover their fate.

Finally, the first leg (second leg to be played in November) of the play-off between New Zealand and Bahrain ended in a 0-0 draw. Sounds like a corker.

Unfortunately not a new incarnation of arguably the greatest PC football sim – FIFA RTWC ’98 – but a look at the situation after last night’s games. There are now no games until June, so a long time to stew on a good week (England, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland) a bad one (Wales) or a mediocre one (Scotland).

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Denmark	5	4	1	0	12	2	10	13
2	Hungary	6	4	1	1	8	2	6	13
3	Portugal	5	1	3	1	6	3	3	6
4	Sweden	4	1	3	0	2	1	1	6
5	Albania	7	1	3	3	3	6	-3	6
6	Malta	7	0	1	6	0	17	-17	1

Denmark and Hungary are well clear here,with Carlos Queiroz’ Portugal third after a hugely disappointing one win in five. Sweden are in a better position than the Portuguese also, level on points with a game in hand. Anything can still happen in this group, but Queiroz et al face an uphill struggle. Scolari to return, anyone?

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Greece	6	4	1	1	12	4	8	13
2	Switzerland	6	4	1	1	11	6	5	13
3	Latvia	6	3	1	2	10	6	4	10
4	Israel	6	2	3	1	10	8	2	9
5	Luxembourg	6	1	1	4	3	13	-10	4
6	Moldova	6	0	1	5	2	11	-9	1

Greece and Switzerland lead the way here, but anything can happen in this group – Latvia and Israel are far from out of it. Expect lots of draws.

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Northern Ireland	7	4	1	2	12	6	6	13
2	Slovakia	5	4	0	1	10	6	4	12
3	Poland	6	3	1	2	18	7	11	10
4	Czech Republic	6	2	2	2	6	4	2	8
5	Slovenia	6	2	2	2	5	4	1	8
6	San Marino	6	0	0	6	1	25	-24	0

A tremendous week for Northern Ireland, two wins from two, puts them atop the pile; but note that by winning games in hand both Slovakia and Poland can go ahead of them. Still, the Irish have done fantastically well and encouragingly goals are coming from sources other than David Healy.

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Germany	6	5	1	0	18	4	14	16
2	Russia	5	4	0	1	9	3	6	12
3	Finland	4	2	1	1	6	6	0	7
4	Wales	6	2	0	4	4	7	-3	6
5	Azerbaijan	4	0	1	3	0	4	-4	1
6	Liechtenstein	5	0	1	4	0	13	-13	1

This is arguably the most clear cut of the groups, with Germany effectively qualified and Russia five points clear in second place. Wales, after an abject defeat to Finland and then being totally outplayed by Germany, must take stock and prepare for 2012.

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Spain	6	6	0	0	13	2	11	18
2	Bosnia-Herzegovina	6	4	0	2	18	7	11	12
3	Turkey	6	2	2	2	6	5	1	8
4	Belgium	6	2	1	3	10	11	-1	7
5	Estonia	6	1	2	3	5	15	-10	5
6	Armenia	6	0	1	5	3	15	-12	1

European Champions Spain, after a hard fought and late win against Turkey, top Group Five – and are all but qualified. Bosnia are a team on the up and a convincing victory over Belgium, coupled with the Turk’s defeat, gives them breathing space in second.

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	England	5	5	0	0	16	4	12	15
2	Croatia	5	3	1	1	10	4	6	10
3	Ukraine	4	2	1	1	5	3	2	7
4	Belarus	4	2	0	2	9	6	3	6
5	Kazakhstan	5	1	0	4	6	16	-10	3
6	Andorra	5	0	0	5	1	14	-13	0

England’s best ever start to a WC  qualifying campaign gives them one foot in the finals. Second place is up for grabs, with Ukraine and Belarus breathing down Croatia’s neck – with a game in hand. England’s next two games are against the two bottom sides and should seal their qualification.

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Serbia	5	4	0	1	12	5	7	12
2	France	5	3	1	1	7	6	1	10
3	Lithuania	6	3	0	3	6	5	1	9
4	Austria	5	2	1	2	7	8	-1	7
5	Romania	5	1	1	3	6	10	-4	4
6	Faroe Islands	4	0	1	3	1	5	-4	1

France sealed a narrow, crucial win over Lithuania (how the mighty have fallen!) to inch into second place behind the impressive Serbs. Lithuania are unlikely to last the pace but could still spring a surprise, whereas Austria cannot be totally ruled out.

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Italy	6	4	2	0	9	3	6	14
2	Rep of Ireland	6	3	3	0	7	4	3	12
3	Bulgaria	5	1	4	0	5	3	2	7
4	Cyprus	5	1	1	3	4	7	-3	4
5	Montenegro	5	0	3	2	3	6	-3	3
6	Georgia	7	0	3	4	4	9	-5	3

Along with Group 4, this again looks all but done; Ireland’s important last gasp equaliser against Italy preserved their unbeaten record and kept them five points ahead of Bulgaria, and two behind the Italians.

		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Holland	5	5	0	0	12	1	11	15
2	Scotland	5	2	1	2	4	6	-2	7
3	Iceland	5	1	1	3	5	8	-3	4
4	FYR Macedonia	4	1	0	3	2	7	-5	3
5	Norway	3	0	2	1	2	3	-1	2

Holland are nearly there, and Scotland, after their nervy, scrappy win over Iceland lead the chasing pack. With a spot available for runners up, Scotland will be desperately disappointed not to finish second.

England are in a strong position, and if they beat Ukraine on Wednesday will have one foot in the finals. They were impressive in their 4-0 friendly win over Slovakia but the unbeaten Eastern Europeans will be a much sterner test. England are already 5 points clear and will maintain that advantage with a victory.

Northern Ireland look the next best placed – they are getting carried away by their first chance to qualify since time immemorial (Jonny Evans has issued a ‘rallying cry’) – and top their group. However, it must be noted that if the other sides win their games in hand (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Slovenia – even Poland if they improve their goal difference) they all go ahead of the Irishmen.

Scotland were taught a footballing lesson by Holland, losing 3-0 in Amsterdam, and their only avenue now comes through the ‘best runner up’ spot. However, only the top eight go through; and though it should be within their capabilities to finish ahead of Iceland, Macedonia and Norway it is more than possible they won’t – and even if they do they need more points than other runners up.

The Republic of Ireland were held to a disappointing 1-1 draw by Bulgaria in Dublin, but are still in a good position and qualification is in their own hands (albeit needing to beat Italy). They are seven points clear of third, though, and will be well placed amongst the runners up.

Wales suffered an abject 2-0 defeat at home to Finland; and unfortunately for them, the qualification dream is now as good as over.

This will be updated again after Wednesday’s matches – let’s wait and see if the outlook changes…