England will play for the wooden spoon of Group D today as they make their sorry way to the Estadio Mineirao in Belo Horizonte, to take on group leaders Costa Rica. Even then, they would need Uruguay or Italy to lose to stand a chance of picking up even that smallest of honours. Still, with Frank Lampard set to captain the side today, it may be that a little more experience added to the ranks will be enough to steady the good ship England as it prepares to set sail home. With Costa Rica only needing a draw to qualify, it seems as though the role of tournament whipping boys has switched hands from La Furia Roja, to the Three Lions.

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Costa Rica are undefeated in this group, so England will be looking to change that and bow out with a bang rather than a whimper. Costa Rica and England have never met, so both sets of  players will be relishing the meeting as a chance to prove superiority, even though Costa Rica will still be in the tournament tomorrow. Important news for England is that Steven Gerrard has revealed that he will make an announcement regarding his England career after the group stages are finished. Lampard has announced he is leaving Chelsea, and is also expected to make his final appearance for England today. He has captained his country in the run up to this tournament, taking the armband against Ecuador on June 4th.

Only seven other players before Lampard have managed  to reach one hundred caps for England and in playing against Ukraine in September last year he became the eighth, with tonight’s appearance being number one hundred and six and his fifth major tournament in all.
He has never really been a  prolific goalscorer for his country, although he does currently sit joint ninth in the all time goal scoring charts for England on twenty nine, with his last goal coming against the Republic of Ireland in 2013. Lampard said “I don’t know whether I will carry on. I will get home and make a decision at that point because I have my future at home  to sort out as well. This is not the right time or place. Sitting in your room for a month, you don’t always come up with the right judgement.”

Should Lampard indeed take the armband today, it would mean that England’s current captain, Steven Gerrard would not lead his side on what should be his final international, opting instead to watch it from the bench. Leighton Baines is out with a hamstring injury, so that should see Luke Shaw handed a start. That will make his the second youngest player to feature for the Three Lions at a World Cup,  behind Michael Owen, once a star of Liverpool and of course Real Madrid. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is also out after picking up a knee injury in the draw against Ecuador. Hodgson has utilised quite a percentage of his squad with fifteen of twenty three men making a start so far.