I've never seen a draw for a football competition take as long as that for the World Cup on Saturday.

Gone are the days of just putting balls in a hat and simply drawing them out one by one.

I know it's slightly different because this World Cup will be played in two countries, but we had seeds, then the group of European countries and then teams from elsewhere all in different hats - though I don't know why you shouldn't allowed more than two European teams in one group.

As for the draw itself, my first reaction was England are in a bad group, but to win the World Cup we are going to have to beat the best teams anyway.

I don't see why we can't beat Sweden and Nigeria and if so, then we will be through to the next stage.

In a group competition, a win and two draws are usually good enough to get you through and from that point of view we should be okay.

The draw means we might then have to face holders France in the second round, which will no doubt be a difficult tie. But I don't think the French would particularly look forward to playing England.

You can't pick and choose your opposition, whatever cup competition it is, and you've just got to get on with it. I think England can definitely qualify and when it's knock-out who knows what will happen.

One of the crucial factors for England is their preparation.

Sven-Goran Eriksson will know as much if not more than anyone about the Swedes, while a lot of Argentinian players play in Europe and we'll have a good idea what to expect, as do some of the Nigerians.

From that point of view England will be well prepared.

The thing which is out of Eriksson's hands - which has always been the case for England managers - is injuries.

He might have an idea of what his best 11 might be but whether those 11 will be available next May is in the lap of the gods.

Furthermore, although the squad Eriksson can choose from is good as there are a lot of excellent players coming through, England might not be as prepared as other teams in terms of experience.

I think he has to identify his best side as soon as he can and, injuries allowing, play the nucleus of that team as much as possible between now and then.

I don't think he does know his best 11 yet - there are probably only four automatic choices, namely Seaman if fit, Beckham, Owen and Ferdinand - but you can't chop and change between now and next May and decide then what your best team is.

I think he will want to play as much a settled team in the build-up as possible, but his problems will concern whether or not his best players will be fit and, of course, knowing who's best to bring in if there are injuries.

I also think he has still got problems down the left attack-wise and that will be his biggest worry.

Furthermore, just how fresh the English players will be come the World Cup is another potential disadvantage.

If you counted how many games each England player plays before then, and compare it to the number of games the Argentinians, Swedes and Nigerians play, there will be a big difference.

The Swedes have a big winter break anyway, but Argentina and Nigeria will make sure their players stay relatively fresh, whereas by nature in this country club football dominates.

Do I think England can win the World Cup? Anything can happen but with the group of players we've got and the good youngsters coming through I think it's probably one World Cup too early.

England will be in a far better position in a few years' time to maintain a serious challenge, particularly if the younger players gain the experience they need.