IN soccer, just as in life, looking back can sometimes be a pointless exercise, writes PAUL HINCE.

And so it is with Euro 2004. What's done is done and all the looking back, all the finger-pointing in the world, isn't going to alter the fact that England are out.

So let's look forward instead, because it may have escaped your attention - if you're still preoccupied with Thursday night in Lisbon - that England's opening qualifying matches for the 2006 World Cup in Germany are hovering just over the horizon.

Two years. Just you watch, that time will fly by. The World Cup finals of 2006 will be with us before we realise it.

But that's all the time available to Sven-Goran Eriksson to first assemble an England side good enough to book their passage to Germany and, secondly, to make a more lasting impression in the finals in 2006 than they did in Portugal in 2004.

The first question which needs answering is the obvious one. With an eye on the coming World Cup, should Eriksson stand by his preferred first-choice team which was on duty in Euro 2004 in the belief that, in two years, it will be at its peak?

The answer to that question, to my mind, is a resounding No!

The current England team, in my opinion, is at its peak right now. The vast majority of the side which Eriksson fielded in Portugal were seasoned internationals. Yet they failed to progress beyond the quarter-final stage.

The logic in suggesting that they will be a more efficient unit in Germany when they will all be two years older totally escapes me.

So should Eriksson return to the drawing board and start afresh? Of course not. That would be throwing the baby out with the bath-water.

But what should be blindingly obvious is that new faces and new ideas are going to be needed if England are to succeed in Germany where they failed in Portugal.

Berth

Let's start at square one and look at England's goalkeeping position. Did David James perform well enough during the European Championships to retain his international berth for the foreseeable future? I would suggest not.

James's decision making still leaves a lot to be desired, and it's unlikely that, at his age, he is going to be able to iron that deficiency out of his game.

Eriksson has two excellent young keepers in Chris Kirkland and Paul Robinson chomping on the bit to prove themselves at international level.

Despite his injury problems, Liverpool's Kirkland, in my book, just has the edge over Robinson and should replace James in the England team at the earliest opportunity to prepare him for the coming World Cup challenge.

If the European Championships in Portugal is the yard-stick to judge by, Eriksson has no need to turn into the Tinkerman as far as his back four are concerned as he plots his World Cup campaign.

Gary Neville, John Terry, Sol Campbell and Ashley Cole were collectively as solid as a rock throughout 2004, although work needs to be done on set pieces. But there is no reason to suggest that they will any different as a unit in Germany in two years time.

Yet even England's most efficicent department can be improved by recalling Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand after his suspension, to bring the calmness and the authority alongside Campbell which Terry sometimes lacks under pressure.

Matches, more often than not, are won and lost in midfield, and this is the area which will be giving Eriksson the biggest cause for concern when he conducts his inquest into Euro 2004.

David Beckham, it has to be said, had a disastrous campaign in Portugal, to raise serious doubts about his merits as England's skipper and his very international career.

Beckham has said consistently that his very public life will not impinge on his soccer, but that statement has a hollow ring now after his anonyomous displays in Portugal.

Circus

The Beckham publicity circus won't be leaving town, that's for sure. There are too many mouths to feed off Beckham's fame.

And, despite Beckham's pledge yesterday (Friday) to stay on as skipper, perhaps now is the time for Eriksson to tell the Real Madrid man that no one can serve two masters, because soccer no longer appears to be the motivating factor in Beckham's life.

Personally, I believe that Beckham has run his race at international level. He is neither the player nor the inspirational leader he was two years ago.

Eriksson should grasp the nettle and draft in little Shaun Wright-Phillips to fill Beckham's position on the right-side of England's midfield.

The Manchester City favourite may not be quite ready yet to step up to that level. But he's got an engine every bit as big as Beckham's, and one other asset which Beckham sorely lacks - Wright-Phillips can take on and beat an opponent.

One thing I can add with absolute conviction. If Wright-Phillips improves as much over the next two years as he has over the last two years, Eriksson will have a genuine international match-winner at his disposal for the 2006 World Cup finals.

With Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard certain to be part of Eriksson's World Cup campaign, the other difficult decision he needs to make concerning his midfield department is whether to keep faith with Paul Scholes for the next two years.

The ability of the Manchester United star is not in question. But what can be questioned is Scholes's effectiveness these days when wearing the England shirt. One goal in three years is a poor return by anyone's standards - and an horrific one when applied to a player whose very reputation has been built around his goalscoring talents.

Wayne Rooney's amazing rise to senior international level, and the position he occupies in the hole behind the main striker, has restricted Scholes's famous forward surges still further.

And while the Ginger Prince will clearly be part of Eriksson's squad in the World Cup campaign, I can see him being used in future more as a substitute than an automatic choice in Eriksson's starting line-up.

Incredible

It goes without saying that the incredible Rooney will be the main weapon in Eriksson's armoury during the World Cup campaign.

In fact, the mind boggles at the thought of what wonderkid Wayne will be like as a player with two more years of experience under his talented belt.

Michael Owen won't lose his penalty box expertise between now and 2006. He seems to have been part of the international scene for such a long time that it's hard to believe he's still only 24.

And in one flash against Portugal he proved that he's still one of the most natural finishers in world soccer.

But what Owen and Rooney desperately need is a good, old-fashioned English centre-forward to lead the front-line and create the space which is manna from heaven for the two Merseyside idols. What would Eriksson give right now, I wonder, to have a 25-year-old Alan Shearer in his squad?

Branches

But English-born strikers with Shearer's attributes aren't exactly hanging off the branches in the Premiership right now.

James Beattie at Southampton has been tried and found wanting at international level, so why doesn't Eriksson have a look at Kevin Davies, the burly Bolton striker who could provide the ideal foil for Rooney and Owen if he could reproduce the form he showed for Sam Allardyce's team last season.

This is the team, in a 4-3-3 formation, that I would like to see Eriksson turn out when England play their first World Cup qualifying: Chris Kirkland (Liverpool ); Gary Neville, capt (United), Sol Campbell (Arsenal), Rio Ferdinand (United), Ashley Cole (Arsenal); Shaun Wright-Phillips (City), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Wayne Rooney (Everton), Michael Owen (Liverpool), Kevin Davies (Bolton Wanderers).

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