If there is one man who will give every ounce of sweat and will run himself into the ground for his country its Rickie Lambert and I for one would rather our hopes lay with him than Wayne Rooney.
Once upon a time players would give their right arm to play for England and would need to be certified dead or insane before they would cry off injured, those days are long gone, but you have the feeling after his interview at Wembley a few weeks back that Rickie Lambert is a throwback to those good old days when playing for your country meant something other than the chance to sign another sponsorship deal, Wayne Rooney felt the need to show off the cut on his head a day or two ago. , perhaps he realised that the nation has lost faith with him and now considered him little more than another bloated superstar who considers himself above certain hints and that includes playing for his country.
But the country knows that for some playing for England's still an honour, one of those players is Super Rickie Lambert, you just know that if he had a cut on his head, like Terry Butcher two decades ago he would bandage it up and get out there, the national now knows what Saints supporters have known for four years, now their hopes rest on Rickie and he won't let them down.
Rickie Lambert lead Saints to the Premier League, now he will lead England to Brazil. And I for one would rather our hopes were left with the likes of Rickie Lambert than Wayne Rooney, you know he will not let you down whatever reason result.