Alive & Twitching

So England are out of the World Cup. What remains of the much-heralded “golden generation” has failed in a major tournament yet again. Their performances this time were so abject that even the most biased supporter cannot sensibly argue that the team did not get what it deserved. After the humiliating defeat by Germany, my dominant emotion was anger rather than disappointment. I didn’t really expect them to prosper in the tournament, but nor did I think they would be quite so awful. At least I am now free to support Holland and Spain.

If this sounds unpatriotic, I can assure you that I am not. I fervently support England in other sports, particularly cricket and rugby union; Great Britain at the Olympics; and Europe in the Ryder Cup. I used to be a big England soccer fan but not for the past few years. The present crop of England footballers is, in my opinion, obscenely over-remunerated, seriously over-rated, under-skilled compared with many other international teams and, with few exceptions, generally lacking in articulacy, charm and charisma. Frankly, many of them are simply not even likeable. They compare very unfavourably with their counterparts in the England cricket and rugby union teams.

The Football Association may well sack the England manager, Fabio Capello. That is the sport’s usual response to an unsuccessful team. I doubt if that will solve the problem. The words “bricks” and “straw” come to mind.