world cup woes

In my mind I had dreams of being able to write a blog celebrating the success (even relative success) of the England team in this year's world cup from South Africa. Sadly, reality has dictated that now I am writing about a premature exit to what was a very disappointing campaign.

From a frustratingly mediocre start to a pitifully souless exit, the England team have ripped out the hearts of their fans and shattered the hopes and dreams of a nation. A proud footballing nation. A nation who boasts one of the, if not the best football league in the world. Well done lads! The prospects of getting to a respectful place in the world cup always looked bleak after barely managing to qualify from the group stages, but nevertheless losing to Germany is the most bitter pill to swallow. Where was the heart, the passion, the desire? It's a criticism that's been levelled at our top footballers for a long time that they are overpaid and prima donnas but in some respects I think its been proven to be true in South Africa. I understand sport envokes very strong emotions in people and players alike, sometimes positive and unfortunately sometimes negatively too, but as professionals who do this for a living you would expect them to be able to control those emotions and play regardless of despondancy or frustration. But England played without any real fire or soul today and if playing against your arch rivals in a knock out game is not incentive enough then nothing will be. Simple. The squad Fabio Capello chose are not good enough to play for their country, whatever success they have had at club level.

This is the most frustrating and sad thing is that once again the loyal and passionate fans suffer. We have been let down by a side who looked as if they'd never played football before, who were too easily intimidated and had no self belief in their ability. Capello must go. There is no way he can justify his position as manager as his tactics were proven to come far short of what was needed to defeat even the most humble of world cup sides. '66? We should start forgetting about those glory days because they are very far from the present reality, and look very far from future realities at the moment also. Obviously it is hard to predict how the next generation of international footballers will fair in the three lions shirt, but seeming as it's been over forty years since we won the world cup last I don't hold out much hope.

Rooney was a non-entity in this campaign, he might as well have been left at home. John Terry looked a million miles away for the majority of the tournament from being the world class defender that captained Chelsea to Premier League glory and many other of Fabio's selection were dubious. It was pathetic.


And thus concludes another world cup England performance and hopefully this will be the curtain call for the veterans of our squad. Their time is past and they need to pass on the torch because there is no way we can win another international tournament with them at the helm.

So attention turns back to domestic football and the new Premier League season in August. I much prefer club football as more often than not it's where these players potentials are realised and besides Arsenal have a far better chance of winning the League than England winning the World Cup! We love you Arsenal, we do!!!