Roque Santa Cruz believes England's failings can be put down to the lack of a winter break in the Premier League.
Rovers striker believes rest is the key
Blackburn striker Roque Santa Cruz believes England's failings can be put down to the lack of a winter break in the Premier League.
The accusations have been flying since England's woeful 3-2 defeat to Croatia at Wembley last month put them out of the Euro 2008 reckoning at the qualifying stage.
Many pundits believe that the foreign legion in the Premier League is stopping home-grown talent coming through.
But Paraguay international Santa Cruz, who moved to Rovers from German giants Bayern Munich in the summer, believes the answer is much simpler.
He told
The People: "England's players are just so tired every time they go to a big tournament.
Impossible
"They are expected to play a long season with no breaks and then still be on top form in June. That is impossible.
"Look at Germany. Over there you get maybe six or seven weeks when you do nothing - including a winter break - and so you feel fresh."
Santa Cruz believes there is still hope for England and has tipped his Blackburn team-mate David Bentley to eventually take over wing duties from former captain David Beckham.
He added: "I am sure that once he is really made to feel an England player and he is accepted by the team, then he will perform just like he does for Blackburn.
"I don't know whether David Beckham is finished because he is such a great player.
"When you are a striker and you have someone like Beckham in your team, you know that you are going to get a great pass.
"David Bentley can also give a great pass - the more games he plays, the better he gets, then he will become an England player."
Confidence
Looking back, Santa Cruz wishes his Paraguay team had played with more confidence when they faced England in last summer's World Cup.
He said: "With the names they have, England should be in the top four in the world. Yet when Paraguay played them at the World Cup, we were really disappointed that we believed their reputation.
"We lost 1-0 and went home thinking, 'Hey, these guys were not as good as we were expecting.'
"If we had known what they were about before the game then we would have had much more confidence in ourselves.
"It was just a shame that not enough of our players really believed we could win."
