Trading standards officials have aired caution over England's involvement in Euro 2016 qualification, despite a seemingly inviting draw.
England were drawn alongside Switzerland, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania and San Marino in Group E.
Although the task seems well within England’s grasp, and that topping the ground is a mere formality, the national team have been tipped off that any attempt to win Euro 2016 may involve unforeseen difficulties.
A spokesman from the Trading Standards Institute insists that, over the years, many similar opportunities have been offered to national teams and are not all that they seem.
“At first glance it looks great: just beat several countries nobody could reliably place on a map and everyone’s happy,” Steve Standards told FourFourTwo.
“But that’s just the start of it. What you can guarantee is that if England do successfully complete these games, they’ll be asked to compete in another group stage with even harder teams.
“Like any good confidence trick, by that time England will have been sucked in to think they can manage it. But eventually, of course, they’ll be asked to win three consecutive games against decent European teams and we all know that’s impossible.”
The official line from Trading Standards is that England should exercise the cunning evasive action they employed for Euro 2008 when they tricked Croatia into taking their place in the competition.
