England's playing at their best when it's an open game and they can play into space with guided passes, showing off one and two touch soccer, connecting with teammates with an up-tempo pace. At these times the players show how thoughtful and aware they are on the field, putting the pieces together. No one can refute this. What can be refuted is that English teams cramp up when thrown into the half court offense, or as it's called the attacking third. It could be successfully argued that many teams outside of Spain, Germany and Brazil, share the same problem. 
   However, with all the quality that England can place on a field, is there something else going on? Have they merely been unlucky since 1966? After all, they had the classic 1970 quarterfinal with Brazil - the eventual champs - that could've gone either way. Brian Robson was injured in 1982. Maradona cheated against a talented side including Barns and Lineker in 1986. They made it to the semis in 1990 losing to the eventual champs, West Germany. 1994, not a good year for England. In 1998 they lost in the shootout with Argentina. Injuries from Beckham and Gerrard affected the team in 2002, and, yet again, they were eventually knocked out by the eventual champs, Brazil. They lost in penalties to Portugal in 2006. Then, in 2010, when a comeback looked inevitable and the ball "went over the line for a goal" Frank Lampard's shot was called back, forcing England to truly never know if they could have won that game against Germany. Then in 2014 England came up with two losses and a tie. 
   With all this bad luck on their side, and with all the quality teams they field, the general public still expects big things from them. So much so that each team feels a world of pressure to succeed, when success has not come there way in World Cups for years. Yet, their fate is to accept that pressure and find a way to bring England a championship again. 

Germany will continue on this path of success, wherein, at this very moment, they would be the favorites to win the whole thing. Their chemistry is fluid, each pass is guided with accuracy and intent, unequaled by opponents. They have been consistent for over half a century (of course, playing as West Germany in years past). With the group of players in place there is no reason to think they will slow down. Despite losing in the recent Euro 2016, they have a chance to build a little dynasty similar to Spain in recent years. 

England has a long way to go. The emotion is always there. The talent is good enough. The experience of the players is there. Will the chemistry be what it needs to be in order to surpass the other powers? That's a big question. Back to the talent. Is it good enough? Most people will argue that they'll always be good enough, but how can they take it a little further? There are many reasons that have been holding them back in recent years. Bad luck, bad chemistry, mental lapses. What's next for England? They're always one of the teams to watch. They should at the very least provide interesting conversations as the World Cup approaches. 

Where will Spain go? They have reached their limit with this group of players that is slowly being replaced. Their chemistry cannot be matched by future teams. At least, it would be very difficult to replace arguably the best team of all time, that being Spain from 2006-2013. They'll still be competitive, however, they will likely return to the old saying of being "one of the best teams to never win the World Cup," now replaced with "one of the best teams not to win the World Cup again." 

If Brazil can recover from Dunga's terrible lineup choices they will be prevalent, as Brazil always is. When Dunga coached Brazil in World Cup 2010 the team was too big, and not of the classical Brazilian approach, which is agile and creative. They were good, but not what people expect to see of Brazil. Similarly, when Dunga coached the 2014 squad the lineup was unimaginative and flat out boring at times. There was a window between 2010 and 2012 when Dunga was replaced as coach by Menezes, and he brought in more creative players with the typical Brazilian artistic approach. Which didn't last long, thanks to Dunga. He was a good player in his day, but as a coach Brazil has declined. With the right coach bringing in the right lineup and guiding them the right way - which Dunga also failed at - Brazil should be well on the way to playing as five time champs. 

Italy, as usual, will claim they have one the worst teams they've ever fielded, yet, they'll prevail as one of the top teams. Unlike England, Italy has the ability to step out of bad slumps over the years with consistent World Cup success, with finals appearances. There is something about them that allows creativity to flow from their dominant defensive stance. That is, when it's needed, they can create something out of nothing, even when their lineup isn't traditionally a "creative group of guys." That seems to be a salient Italian quality. They can bring something together, whereas England cannot. There is something to be said about taking an overly cautious defensive approach, as Italy is known to do. They think defense first and everything else comes together later. If this stereotypical way of viewing Italy is correct then it begs the question: Is this a good approach? After all, if everything on the defensive end is in place and confident, then the team can confidently move forward with the attack and take chances here and there. Based on the good Euro 2016 showing, Italy should be on their way to another successful World Cup.