Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain positive he'll play a role for England in the World Cup 2014

• Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is positive he'll play in the World Cup
• Midfielder is currently recovering from a knee injury
• Oxlade-Chamberlain was injured in England's 2-2 friendly vs Ecuador
• 20-year-old is hoping to feature against Uruguay on June 19
• Arsenal star says hearing Brazil sing the national anthem made the reality of the World Cup sink in for hm
  

By Rob Draper for The Mail on Sunday

Published: 19:08 EDT, 14 June 2014 | Updated: 19:44 EDT, 14 June 2014

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is as positive a character as you might wish to find around the England camp, so even when his World Cup appeared to be in jeopardy he still clung to hope.

In the sterile surroundings of a Miami medical centre last week Oxlade-Chamberlain submitted to the medical scan on his injured knee that would tell him if his World Cup was over and crossed his fingers — literally.

‘I actually sat in the scanner with the fingers crossed on both my hands for the whole 25 minutes,’ said Oxlade-Chamberlain.

All smiles: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (left) is positive that he'll be fit to play a part for England at the World Cup

‘At the end I couldn’t feel my fingers. After I came out our doctor saw the scan results and was pretty happy with them, considering what they’d feared. They’d thought it could have been a lot worse than it was. I was obviously a bit worried.’

With good reason: the collision with Ecuador’s Carlos Gruezo in England’s penultimate warm-up game looked bad, as the Arsenal man winced with pain and crumpled to the floor.

He added: ‘In the next 10 seconds you try to figure out how painful it is, and how bad it could be.
‘You get up straight away to try to walk it off, and if you can’t walk it off you panic a bit more.

On the mend: Oxlade-Chamberlain (right) is recovering from a knee injury sustained against Ecuador

‘But I walked off the pitch — that was obviously a positive step — and, from my previous experience with my knee, I could gauge it wasn’t as bad as that in the dressing room. I just kept my fingers crossed and tried to keep positive about it.

‘Straight after, I sat in the dressing room and I was thinking, “You can’t get yourself in a pickle and get yourself down, because the situation is not going to change. What’s happened has happened”.

‘You can either stay positive and look forward and look how you are going to get over it or you do the opposite and get yourself down. And that is not going to get you anywhere.’

Heavy hit: Oxlade-Chamberlain (right) was fouled hard by Ecuador's Carlos Gruezo (bottom) in June's friendly

Eleven days on he is now out- running the physios overseeing his rehabilitation and hopes to be available to play against Uruguay — although you can see England manager Roy Hodgson holding him back for the Costa Rica game.

‘We are not sure about timescales but we are hopeful that Uruguay would be realistic,’ said Oxlade-Chamberlain. ‘There is nothing set in stone and I can’t say whether I will definitely be back or not. We just know we are very positive about it and we are going to keep pushing towards it.’

He was playing so well against Ecuador, especially given the fact that much of his Arsenal season was disrupted by a knee injury and then a groin strain, that you would imagine he will get his chance when he is back.

As such he is now embracing everything the World Cup has to offer, the opening match between Brazil and Croatia having made quite an impression.

Shattered dreams: Oxlade-Chamberlain (bottom) feared his World Cup could be over after Gruezo's challenge

‘It started off in fine fashion with the Brazilian national anthem,’ he said. ‘That is where I really saw them going for it. The Brazilians singing the anthem really hit home.

‘Usually you have the Brazilians down to be cool calm customers but they were really passionate about it. You could see how much it meant to them and the whole nation. When you are in the mix of it here, it really brings it alive.’

Put Oxlade-Chamberlain down as a singer rather than a mumbler when he does get the chance to line up for the anthems. It will be fitting if he does get to play, for it was his performance last summer when he came on against Brazil in the Maracana that marked him down as potential game-changer in this tournament.

Encouraging: Oxlade-Chamberlain (left) says walking off the pitch was a positive sign for his knee injury

‘It’s a nice memory for me to cling to for the rest of my life,’ he said, recalling his goal and 30-minute appearance that changed the game.

‘Let’s hope there are more memories like that. Having that taste last year, and being able to score against Brazil in the Maracana, and now being in the World Cup with a chance to emulate that, it’s a massive motivation. I took that coming into this tournament and I still have that same thought in my head now.’

In playing at the Maracana, he followed in the footsteps of his father, Mark Chamberlain. The former  England, Stoke and Portsmouth winger played in the 2-0 friendly win in 1984 and plans to come out to watch his son if England progress.

However, Alex has already outstripped him in terms of England caps — 15 so far to his father’s eight — and playing at the World Cup would also be something his father never achieved.

Golden moment: Oxlade-Chamberlain scored England's second goal in their 2-2 draw vs Brazil in June last year

As for the intensity and pressure that will surround a World Cup match, he is remarkably matter of fact.

‘It’s a game of football isn’t it?’ he deadpanned.

When pressed, he conceded: ‘Well, it’s a big game of football; just more people watch it! It doesn’t change the game and how you approach it.

‘I will try to do the same things I always do. Because it is a World Cup, it’s on a bigger scale and more people watch it, so that gives you the extra motivation and buzz.

On point: Oxlade-Chamberlain said Brazil's 3-1 opening World Cup win against Croatia made a mark on him

‘It is what you watch as a kid  growing up; it is what everyone back home is watching, everyone here and everyone around the world. It is just on a bigger stage.’

Oxlade-Chamberlain’s versatility also gives him increased hope of caps here, given that he can play central midfield as well as wide.

‘When I play in midfield and have a good game, that’s my favourite position; then I play out wide and score a goal, that’s my favourite position; and when I played in goal at Stamford Bridge I realised that’s not my best position…’ he said, offering the last phrase with a wry smile.

Mistaken identity: Kieran Gibbs (left) was wrongly dismissed by Andre Marriner in Arsenal's 6-0 loss at Chelsea

He is, of course, referring to the debacle of his handball against Chelsea in Arsenal’s 6-0 defeat. It gave Chelsea their third goal from a penalty and saw his team-mate Kieran Gibbs sent off in error, even though Oxlade-Chamberlain told referee Andre Marriner that he was to blame.

For now, despite his injury, he seems to be enjoying every aspect of this experience, except when he has to defer to Wayne Rooney at snooker. Oxlade-Chamberlain is, it appears, a bad loser.

He revealed: ‘I lost to him at snooker the other day. I was on the black ball and I potted the white, it was unbelievable. It would have been the best comeback of my life. I stormed off to my room.’

So how did Rooney react? ‘Wazza was laughing, as always,’ he said.