For England some familiar waters lie beyond this summer's World Cup. But if Glenn Hoddle is to qualify for the 2000 European Championship in similar style his team will need to maintain its present standards of navigation.
Yesterday's draw for the qualifiers challenged England to repeat the performances, and especially the away performances, which have taken them to France. Even if Group Five is not a group of death most of the other eight appear almost happy-go-lucky by comparison.
It almost goes without saying that to reach Holland and Belgium, joint hosts of Euro 2000, England will have to overcome Poland, whom they are clearly fated to meet in perpetuity since the countries now been drawn together five times in 10 years. But Bulgaria look a bigger threat and Sweden, World Cup semi-finalists in 1994, are due a change of fortune after failing to qualify for France.
Luxembourg are England's other opponents, having sworn in 1983 that they would never entertain English opposition again after their little national stadium had been trashed by visiting fans for a second time. After the draw Hoddle marked down Bulgaria as the main danger. "They gained respect throughout the game for their performances in the last World Cup," he said.
Scotland are in one of the four six-nation groups, where the Czechs and Bosnia will be their principal rivals, while managerless Northern Ireland face Germany for the second successive time in a qualifying competition.
In group one, Wales are up against Italy, Denmark, Switzerland and Belarus. "It's not a group from which we can realistically expect to qualify," said their manager, Bobby Gould. But he did win the FA Cup with Wimbledon 10 years ago, and that after beating Liverpool in the final.
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