England played another of its pre-World Cup friendlies last night with predictably troubling results. One of the country's finer young players, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, sustained an injury in this meaningless fixture and now looks doubtful for the tournament. This is probably for the best. It will pour cold water on the unrealistic hopes of the nation.
Let's not put too fine a point on this: England are shite at tournament football. Vee poor. And yet, with uncharacteristic optimism, the English always believe that this time the team will do well. They often point out that Spain suffered similar disappointments in years gone by as evidence that sometimes the footballing gods simply conspire again decent teams. Sadly this reasoning(!) overlooks the fact that the Spanish players are brilliant and the English ones mediocre. Yes, they are. How many English players would make it on the starting eleven of the world's best team? That right: none. The bench...it's none again, isn't it? What about the squad? Nope, another dud. The only Englishman who might make it onto the coach would be doing so as the designated driver.
So, as I say, AOC's injury has taken the heat out of English expectations. Just as well too because some of the voodoo logic one is hearing in the workplace at the moment is terrifying. Real Madrid were European champions and Arsenal won The Cup the last (only) time England won an international tournament. Yeah, and John Lennon was still alive. What do you propose to do about that?
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