The heat will be on England, warns Nigel

Worthington played two matches for Northern Ireland during the 1986 tournament in Mexico and admitted it was hard-going for his country and other European teams.

During the seven previous competitions held in the Americas, Brazil have emerged triumphant three times, while Argentina and Uruguay have won two apeice.

In 80 years, no European side has ever lifted the trophy on the other side of the Atlantic and, following this month’s group stage draw, Worthington reckons that record will most likely be maintained during 2014.

A Diego Maradona-inspired Argentina were victorious back in ’86 when the Irish were also eliminated by Brazil at the group stage following two goals by Careca and a memorable Josimar strike.

On the significance of “home advantage” in World Cup finals, Worthington said: “I think it’s a two-way thing.

“South American sides come to Europe and it’s a bit more difficult for them but, for European teams going to South America, it’s a lot more difficult. It makes a huge difference for European players.

“You can drink as much fluid as you want and acclimatise as much as you can but, if you’re not used to that heat, it’s difficult. We went to Albuquerque and acclimatised by doing pretty much a two-week pre-season.

“Billy Bingham was manager and we just really worked as hard as we could for that period of time in the hot sunshine to put as much into our systems as we could to get ready for the tournament.

“But we played Spain in Guadalajara at the height of midday and the temperature was 112 degrees. With the heat of the sun, you can feel your chest burn and players were losing eight pounds in fluid during a game.

“Because of that, you have to fancy one of the South American countries to be around for the final, but, then, you look at Germany because you know what they are like in tournaments.

“They are dogged, resilient and have everything a good team should have and they very often do well.”

Despite his reservations concerning the weather that awaits Roy Hodgson’s men in Manaus, Sao Paulo and Belo Horizonte, Worthington believes the Three Lions are capable of qualifying from a challenging group that includes Uruguay, 2006 champions Italy and underdogs Costa Rica.

The former Northern Ireland boss said: “From the group England are in, most of the teams would be in the next round if they had been kept apart so it’s not an easy one but to get through that group would be a huge boost.

“England can do that and good luck to them.

“You have to be positive and, like Roy has said already, go for it and see how far you can get.”

Last week’s draw for the finals has also brought back fond memories for the current City chief of his involvement in the ’86 tournament.

As a 24-year-old left-back, Worthington started the first two games against Algeria and Spain, which ended in a 1-1 draw and a 2-1 defeat respectively.

He was left on the bench, however, for the showcase clash against a brilliant Brazilian team, which ended in a 3-0 loss.

Recalling that match, he said: “I was disappointed not to be selected because you want to play and I had done in the other two games.

“I remember standing in the tunnel before the game though and all of them were there – Zico, Socrates, Junior and Falcao.

“The way they retained the ball was incredible and you can learn just as much sat down watching sometimes as you can playing but there would have been no substitute for being out on the pitch that day.

“They are all wonderful memories though. I remember Josimar’s goal and, when you have a 6ft 4in keeper of the quality of Pat Jennings beaten by a shot like that, you just have to think ‘fantastic’.

“It was the first time I had heard of Josimar and the last time I think I heard of him.

“We had a 40th birthday bash for big Pat that night but it was a bitter-sweet party for him.

“He had played the last game for his country against Brazil in the World Cup finals but he was disappointed to concede that fantastic goal.

“Not too many goalkeepers would have saved it, but big Pat had high standards and didn’t like to be beaten.”

Lanre on the rise up City leaderboard

LANRE Oyebanjo has moved up to joint-third on The Press Player of the Year leaderboard.

The former Republic of Ireland under-21 international, inset, is now level with Wes Fletcher and David McGurk after picking up three points as our man of the match during last Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Burton.

That trio only trail top-two Josh Carson and Luke O’Neill in the standings.

Ben Davies (two) and Carson (one) were also awarded points as The Press’ respective second and third-highest rated performers at the Pirelli Stadium.

The two Player of the Month bonus points, meanwhile, available to the player who received most man-of-the-match votes from visitors to our website and the @daveflettpress Twitter account were shared by Oyebanjo and Carson.

To be in with a chance of presenting the December Player of the Month with his prize – a framed photograph – before a match at Bootham Crescent, visit www.yorkpress.co.uk to register your man-of-the-match vote from today’s home match with Oxford or tweet @daveflettpress The Press Player of the Year latest standings: Carson 18 points, O’Neill 13, Fletcher 12, McGurk 12, Oyebanjo 12, Brobbel 11, Montrose 9, Jarvis 8, Parslow 8, Smith 7, Lowe 6, Bowman 5, Chambers 5, Clay 4, Ingham 4, Davies 3, Pope 2, Puri 2, Whitehouse 2, Kettings 1.

The Press Player of the Month for December latest standings: Oyebanjo 4, Carson 2, Davies 2.

Goals: Jarvis 8, Fletcher 7, Bowman 4, Brobbel 3, Carson 3, McGurk 1, Montrose 1, O’Neill 1, Own goal 1.

Assists: O’Neill 5, Bowman 3, Brobbel 3, Carson 3, Clay 2, Fletcher 2, Jarvis 2, Smith 2, Coulson 1, Cresswell 1, Fyfield 1, Ingham 1, McGurk 1, Montrose 1, Oyebanjo 1.

Bad boys: Montrose six yellow cards; Whitehouse both five yellows; Smith four yellows; Bowman two red, one yellow; Oyebanjo three yellows; Cresswell one red, one yellow; Carson, Fyfield, Jarvis, McGurk, O’Neill all two yellows; Chambers, Clay, Coulson, Davies, Lowe, Parslow, Platt all one yellow.