UPDATE: no.
“I just got this email from a German colleague,” announces Justin Steed. “The subject line was ‘Official FIFA schedule’. Tue.: France vs. South Africa in Mangaung. Wed: England vs. Slovenia in Port Elizabeth. Thurs: England vs. France at Airport Who said the Germans weren’t funny? Oh.”
From The Guardian’s live commentary yesterday on France v South Africa. It sums up the expectations of neutrals for England. Football may be going home prematurely again tonight, if the English can’t manage a miracle and actually do some proper football today. It would fit the general trend in this Worldcup of underperforming European teams. France has gone home, England needs a miracle, Germany and Italy are still in danger as well, while Holland may have qualified but not with that much conviction — good enough, rather than good football.
The question is why this is so. Have the resat of the world caught up, with even supposedly weak teams being able to mount reasonable defences against the favourites, no longer in awe of them? Or is it something endemic to Europe, with the supposed powerhouses being revealed to have feet of clay. France obviously has its own story, but it’s suspicious that countries like England, Germany, Spain and Italy all have strong national competitions which are largely populated with foreign superstars. Players like Roony or Terry are used to play with the best of the best of the world in their club teams, but you can’t say the same about their mates on the national squad…. Has the ever increasing commercialisation and globalisation of football hollowed out the national teams?
It’s certainly telling that countries with “lesser” competitions with fewer foreign superstars playing in it seem to do better…