take 2

Have put a fiver on England being eliminated by the quarter finals at the latest. Some think I'm mad, that they will reach the semis or go on to better things. But the match against Trinidad served to augment my concerns about national football, not diminish them. How is it possible that a team as feted as England, with global superstars such as Beckham, Rooney, etc. can struggle against virtual unknowns? (Save for Hislop, the West Ham keeper) May I dare to venture that the answer is, Trinidad have nothing to lose by playing as one united team, whereas England are playing like a bunch of overpaid egomaniacs out there for personal glory. No wonder they were full of smiles boarding the plane to Germany - I would be too if I was making millions a year to get embarrassed by nations with little or no footballing pedigree. It's no surprise that England have done well (or better) in tournaments where the team selection has included players who sacrifice personal vanity for the greater collective good - Stuart Pearce is a name which particularly springs to mind - and they have utterly failed otherwise. Unfortunately, the other hyped up teams such as Brazil, Argentina and host nation Germany aren't performing as well as expected either, so perhaps England will make it further than they rightfully should.