Alvin Martin: 'England need luck after group stages'

Former England international Alvin Martin believes that his country will need a huge amount of luck if they are to make it beyond the quarter-finals of Euro 2012.

The Three Lions are on the brink of qualification from the group stages after an exciting 3-2 win over Sweden following a hard-earned 1-1 draw with France.

Should England advance to the last eight, they would face either Spain, Italy or Croatia, and Martin doubts whether Roy Hodgson's men will make it any further than that in the tournament.

"After seeing Ukraine I think they're there for the taking. We can beat Ukraine and go through to the knockout stages but we're going to need a hell of a lot of luck if we are going to progress to the semi-finals, or even the final," Martin told talkSPORT.

"I wasn't expecting Roy and Ray Lewington and his coaching staff to wave a magic wand and all of a sudden we play really expansive football where we retain the ball better than we have before. That takes months and months to be able to correct.

"We have individuals that can win. We've got [Wayne] Rooney coming back which is a massive plus. We've got [Danny] Welbeck who looks like he's made for the big stage. Andy Carroll got a goal.

"Steven Gerrard looks like he's enjoying leading the side. We've got a strong defence and a good goalkeeper but have I got any confidence of us going on and taking the competition by storm? No."

England take on Ukraine in their final Group D game on Tuesday.