England Team - Booze for Our Boys

At the time of writing England manager Roy Hodgson has yet to finalise his World Cup team. To be perfectly honest this is not something that has grabbed my attention very much since 1966.
However, what has piqued my interest is the news that Sir Alex Ferguson is auctioning off part of his wine collection to accommodate more purchases. Green with envy (moi?), maybe just a bit; if only I could find that rich man....
Apparently Sir Alex not only has the ability to pick the best players, but also the best wines.
His interest in wine began during trips to France scouting for players, and he says it has provided welcome distraction from the day job. I couldn’t agree more.
Described as having "exceptional taste in fine wine“, and with rare bottles of 1999 Romanée-Conti Grand Cru on offer, the £3m. the wines are expected to make should provide sufficient fodder for future indulgence.
Until now I have given little thought to the association between kicking a ball about and the more cultured side of footballers' private lives.
Of the potential players that will make up our national team, there is much scope to match them with suitable beverages, and even a dedicated website, www.footballerswines.co.uk. Here are a few suggestions. If all goes well, and we remain in with a fighting chance, there should be sufficient choice to try something different each day

Leighton Baines – aside from taking a good corner, this player is said to prefer a quieter, ‘coffee shop culture’ lifestyle. Given his salary, he’ll be able to run to a cup of Kopi Luwak coffee from Indonesia, the most expensive in the world, at around £700 a lb; just don’t ask how it’s processed.
Gary Cahill - at Chelsea it is traditional for new players to sing in front of the squad. Gary sang ‘Sexy and I know It’. A Gangnam style rap song with this title has as its next line ‘Clap your hands, drink some Moët’, so a bottle of this popular bubbly would help get him in the mood for an encore.
Steven Gerrard – his wild ways are long since gone, and as wife Alex likes eating Italian, they might like to share a bottle of chardonnay based Astoria Lounge Prosecco, from Veneto, Italy.
Joe Hart – seen topless with team mates partying in Ibiza after Euro 2012, on a return visit he could try the VIP lounge at top bar Amnesia, for another sangria to help him forget.
Phil Jagielka – with a Polish grandfather he is eligible to play for Poland, so he could celebrate another great header with a shot of Vestal Podlasie vodka; made in small batches using potatoes grown in NE Poland.
Glen Johnson – clearly someone in a bit of a hurry, with a six month driving ban for speeding. As the bubbles in champagne make alcohol go to the head more quickly this would seem a perfact match, or he might down a pint of ‘snakebite’, a mix of cider and lager, it makes you drunk quicker, so the theory goes.
Frank Lampard – getting a bit long in the tooth now; apparently he does not drink before a match, and is more of a beer man. England team sponsors, Danish brewer's Carlsberg, billed as ‘probably the best beer in the world’, should be right up his street.

Wayne Rooney – Forget the Powerade adverts; lambasted for drinking a £2,000 bottle of Petrus whilst scoffing his birthday cake last year. Perhaps giving it another go, he’d like to try a more refined approach. He’d be in good company, as it was served at the Queen's wedding in 1947.
Luke Shaw – this youngster could possibly be excused for eating burgers from a well know chain, which just happens to have started serving beer in some outlets, so Budweiser should go down well with a little snack on the way home.
Jack Wilshere – last seen holding a pint of lager at an 02 rap concert recently, having progressed from declaring that he didn’t imbibe, one must that hope he progresses to something more upmarket as he matures.
David Beckham – although no longer part of the England team, I’d have to bring back my favourite footballer, David Beckham. He has recently launched a new whisky, ‘Haig Club Single Grain Scotch Whisky’. Sold in fetching blue glass bottles, it combines grain whisky from three casks, and is described as smooth, fresh and clean with butterscotch and toffee notes; just like Beckham?
Of course the national drink of Brazil is Caipirinha, made from cachaça (distilled cane sugar), sugar and lime juice, which can be quite refreshing or a strong cocktail that might leave you flat on your back. Let’s hope they won’t need it.