Our columnist this week is a 17-year-old Bradford College student from Baildon Alex Spivey

The tournament that all football fans are waiting for is rapidly approaching us. The 2006 World Cup begins in exactly 100 days' time, when the hosts Germany take on Costa Rica.

The big question is, however, can England win the World Cup?

Some fans will expect nothing less than for Sven's men to bring home the trophy, whereas others will be more pessimistic and expect England to be knocked out before the final.

Whatever happens, though, prior to the finals, England will certainly have a great chance of winning the World Cup.

Brazil have been made favourites by the bookies but other nations such as Argentina, Portugal, Italy and France may also prevent England from success, as could Spain, Holland or the Czech Republic.

Personally, I am very confident of England's chances and I believe that we can win the competition.

For many people, the key will be as to whether Wayne Rooney is fit. He is a crucial player for England, but I would be more worried if Michael Owen wasn't available. Rooney is a great player, but I think Owen is more important to England. Owen is a natural goal scorer, and in my opinion, would be more difficult to replace.

If Rooney was injured, we could put Gerrard or maybe Joe Cole in Rooney's position and play another midfielder, whereas if Owen was to be injured, Jermain Defoe or Peter Crouch would probably come in.

It would be difficult to rely on either of these players to get us the goals in the World Cup, as Defoe has only scored eight goals in 39 appearances for Tottenham Hotspur so far this season, and Crouch has just scored seven goals in 40 matches for Liverpool. Obviously, it would be a big help if all our players were fit for the World Cup, and we will need players like Terry, Beckham and Rooney to be fit if we want to win it, but I think Owen is our most important player, because of his goalscoring record.

Defensively, we shouldn't be worried, as we have some of the best defenders in the world.

Gary Neville, Ashley Cole, John Terry and Rio Ferdinand are most likely to start at the back but we also have solid replacements in Wes Brown, Jamie Carragher, Sol Campbell and Ledley King. Paul Robinson will obviously start in goal if he is fit.

We also have some of the best midfielders in the world, too. Gerrard, Beckham, Lampard and Joe Cole would get in most teams and we are lucky to have them. Once again, it is an area where we have reliable replacements, such as, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Michael Carrick and others.

We have a relatively easy group, so I don't think we will have too much difficulty in progressing to the knock-out stages, but when we have to face some of the bigger teams, we will have to perform at our best. With the players at our disposal, though, there is no reason why England cannot go to Germany and win the World Cup.