The response of the French players has been to go on strike at the way their Federation is being run, although this is probably a case of donkeys led by donkeys, as it is with England. The determination to blame foreigners is shown in many of the comments here.Įngland are not the only team with their problems on the pitch. How often do we hear that all England need to do is “warm up” and “get into their stride” to become world-beaters? Or it's the Italian manager playing a rigid formation and not allowing the players to be “creative.” We can expect a football-patriotic backlash to bring back an English manager. Nevertheless, the Whig Interpretation of Football clings on. The four-yearly mantra that this time is our best chance since 1966 is being replaced by the realisation that England's best chance to win since 1966 was, and remains, Mexico 1970. The idea that the English, as the inventors of football, have a god-given right to win and are on a consistent path towards recapturing the “Spirit of '66” has in the last few days started to disappear from all but the most deluded football-patriots in the media. Who do England have warming up on the touchline? Michael Carrick and Shaun Wright-Phillips.Īt least all this has done much to dispel what we could call the Whig Interpretation of Football.
Brazil brought on Dani Alves as a substitute against Ivory Coast. Argentina have Champions League winner Diego Milito on the bench. The only natural left-winger is the squad hasn't been on the pitch for so much as a minute. We have been subjected to a sort of school playground shadow-football that Franz Beckenbauer has called “kick and rush.” The hit-and-hope long ball game has bypasses the central midfield and leaves out two of England's three truly world class players, Gerrard and Lampard. It's not only the results, but every aspect of the performances, that has disappointed. This is because my life, like a Jabulani ball, is incredibly difficult to control.Įngland's World Cup performance has fallen well below even my ultra-pessimistic expectations.
Apologies for the continued irregularity of posts.
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