England were terrible...

England were terrible.The defence shocking apart from goalkeeper David James and the 4-1 defeat to old rivals Germany was England’s biggest ever in the World Cup finals.The players did not perform.They were poor against the USA,dreadful against Algeria,improved but not great in the 1-0 win over Slovenia and simply outplayed by the younger,quicker and more inventive Germany.Fabio Capello at £6 million a year the highest paid national coach in the World,made mistakes.His team selection was open to big debate such as playing Robert Green instead of David James at the start. Emile Heskey before Jermain Defoe and Peter Crouch,and the centre back partners for John Terry.Wayne Rooney never performed.There were problems before the World Cup,some self-inflicted,and I was never convinced that Capello understood the culture of English players.They did not appear to respond to being cooped up in their rooms for long hours,no mobile phones,hours of boredom,all having to eat at the same time and the lack of alcohol..The FA will point to England’s excellent qualification but it is all about the World Cup finals.England had an easy qualifying group so no shocks there.Then they were drawn in an easy to progress Group C but failed to beat the USA ,Algeria or finish top of that Group.The players let Capello down but he has to take the rap as well.It goes with the territory.His methods may work in Italy and Spain but not for England on an international stage.Managers are judged by results.The money comes with success.Results are everything.Capello says he will not resign.He wants a meeting with the FA.It could be to discuss compensation if he goes or if they want him to see out his contract.I would love to hear his explanation for England’s performance. I feel for England and Capello about the goal that was not give when Frank Lampard ‘s chip clearly crossed the line but was missed by the match officials.I don’t think in the end it would have changed the result but I suppose we will never know…...


Goal line videos...

Everyone is screaming for technology.Lets at least start with goalline videos we yell.The world ruling football body,particularly their chief Sepp Blatter will always resist it.But that’s a disgrace in the modern game and the world we live in.It would take seconds….less time that an injured player having to leave the field.The latest glaring example of course was Frank Lampard’s should have been a goal chip against Germany when the whole world saw the ball clearly over the goalline—everyone that is except the match officials.Its a joke and disgrace.

Shirts off!

Lets credit the World Cup match officials for allowing goalscorers to celebrate in real style without being given a yellow card..even when they took their shirts off.Its the greatest feeling in the game and it is crass that exuberant scenes are punished unless they deliberately wind-up opposition supporters.The British game please note!

Who will win?

Who wins the World Cup? Still the likes of Spain,Brazil and Argentina.But my dark horse was and still is Holland.There will be many of England followers though who probably now could not care less.I covered seven World Cup finals for ITV and whenever England went out the viewing figures crashed.ITV and BBC have a big investment in the South African tournament and they will be extremely disappointed at England’s exit.It affects the interest in the rest of the competition.