WORLD Cup fever has taken over the nation, but I have yet to be gripped.

Perhaps my mood will change come half past seven tonight. It most definitely will if England win it!

Even I’m not old enough to remember 1966, so it would be nice for people of this generation to experience that succ-ess and talk about it for years to come.

Like everybody, I’m sure we have a chance - certainly if eight or nine players in the team play to the same standards as they do domestically.

We’ve got the best squad of players that we’ve been able to boast for a long time and the capabilities to go all the way.

Without wanting to sound negative, though, we always seem to fall flat on our face when it matters.

Hopefully that won’t happen this time, but the first game poses a tough test.

I don’t think anyone underestimates the USA. Over the last 10-15 years they’ve come on tenfold.

They’ve got some good players; lads who play in the Premier League.

But, personally, I wouldn’t swap any of them for our boys, so I hope they do the business tonight.

I’m sure Fabio Capello has got them all finely tuned. Apart from being a non-English, everything else about him is what you want in an England manager. For starters, the discipline he has instilled in the side is top drawer, and the players clearly respect and look up to him.

The time he will be tested is in the big tournaments, and they don’t come any bigger than the World Cup.

He needs his players to perform. Players like Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney and new captain Steven Gerrard.

I’ve never made a secret of the fact I’m an Evertonian, but when Gerrard pulls on that England shirt and leads the team out I will be right behind him, hoping that he lifts the World Cup.