My Reflections on England v. Germany WC'10

Germany tore apart English defense, tormented the goalkeeper and lampooned the strikers. And to make it worse for highly rated English players, the final score-line was Germany four, England one. If this wasn’t total demolition, then what else was it?



It was destruction. And Muller, whom I had thought was very over-rated, single-handedly snatched English hope and farted on it. A humiliation, not just for the players and not just for the nation, but for anyone who ever said England has a chance to win this year’s world cup.

As I was searching for the right tv station before the match, my glance quickly fell upon the Australia versus England cricket match that was being played concurrently. For nation that follows football so ardently and where cricket is almost considered a dying sport, it was astonishing to see so many supporters on the stadium. How come? Simple. They hate football. They have grown sick of it. English players have disappointed their fans on countless occasions. Quite similar to what we experience here with cricket. Now, that England has lost the match, it am sure they must be proud of themselves and would chant pessimistically: "We already knew!"

The English possession of the ball (last time I saw) was 55%. But they were totally unthreatening. Their unstylish movement lacked experiments and boldness. They were fearful of the Germans, so the best that they could do was not to throw away the ball. And that is exactly what they couldn’t manage to do. Four goals for the ever-so-lively Germans and all of them coming via counter-attacks.

But I am dismayed. I had predicted everything except this. Why? Because English defense features John Terry and Ashley Cole. Have you seen Chelsea lose like this?
And this is the whole point of the post. The players need to ask themselves which would bring more glory for them – winning the Champions League or getting their hands on the World Cup? While football is a sport played by two teams, the most significant feature is, actually, us - the spectators. We should categorically declare the World Cup as the pinnacle of glory surpassing the delight of no other trophy.

Club structure has a lot of weak points that contribute towards England’s poor show. But most of all, we have to ask ourselves. What should we build the club structure upon? To showcase beautiful football? To increase popularity? Is it just a business? Or are we providing a platform for young players, so that they would one day bring glory to their country?