Every four years my country and I put all our hopes and dreams in the hands of a group of individuals who have, in my lifetime, continued to disappoint. With the exception of a handful of memorable moments it has mainly been, how can I put it..........bloody crap!
This year was no exception. Business as usual.
Actually, now I come to think about it, this year was slightly different. The entire team played with less passion and pride than at any time I can remember. For the first time I actually had something in common with the players on the field. We all watched the World Cup. They were just standing closer to the action than I was.
Will this early exit affect my life? No, I still have to go to work tomorrow. But I'm pretty upset at the way we went about booking our tickets for the journey home. I can only hope the players are all made to catch the bus. Do they deserve a private plane back to London? I think not.
From a team of "world class" players, who are paid more in one week than you or I make in a whole year, I expect more.
OK. I'm English. I am no different than any other Englishman in that I, for some strange reason, think we should win every game we play. But, as much as I want to see my country succeed, I want to see them play with heart and passion and show pride to be wearing the shirt with the three lions on the front.
Football, Soccer, whatever you want to call it, is a game played with the feet and the heart. It's about the tension and the desire to win. Where the hell was that desire?
I sat through four games, watching a lackluster team of individually brilliant players, play with no heart, no team spirit, no idea.
I watched teams like New Zealand and the USA, teams that were not expected to do well, play together with pride and enterprise, and although they didn't go very far, they played with a never-say-die attitude. Jealous, yes I was!
In a few weeks when life has returned to normal, I bet the general feeling from the USA lads is that they, although being disappointed, really enjoyed this year's tournament and are proud of how they played. Somehow I doubt the England team will have those feelings.
I think it must come down to pressure. The pressure on the England players is incredible: A whole country of football fans expects the team to win each and every game. Does this pressure lead to players not wanting to make any mistakes and therefore not taking any risks? This seems to produce the lifeless, tired performances we have just witnessed.
Well, in my opinion, after years of disappointment, the pressure is well and truly off.
England, you are no longer expected to qualify for the World Cup. You are no longer expected to get past the group stage. You are no longer expected to get to the final. You are no longer expected to win the bloody World Cup.
So, with that said, in Brazil in 2014, please, please, please play like you want to be there. Remember, there's no pressure, so play like you're enjoying it. Play with heart, pride, flair and passion.
Who knows! We might just win it. Come on England!
In the spirit of unity, the Howard household was split on Saturday and Sunday. Lisa, Cora and Violet in their USA colors for Saturdays game and me and my girls in our England gear for Sundays big match.
Violet was very disappointed that England were knocked out.
8 comments:
Oh my! Poor Violet must have been so disappointed! ;)
Obviously Violet is clutching her heart in utter fear of England's demise! Oh bother!!! Well, at least there's the LA Galaxy and David Beckham to look forward to! Prince Harry is kinda cute(also)!! Grandma Wahla
Stace,
You should send your letter to the local paper!!
Grandma Wahla
Well Stace, If the England Football team played with as much passion as the way you wrote this blog then i think they would have gone alot further i think they should get some new blood in the team and then perhaps when they play in 4 years time they will. Think of all those fans who must have payed alot of money to see such crap ,still life goes on and after all we are british.( Stiff upper lip and all that ),:) love You Mum xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
well mate i think everything you said was spot on bt i dont think money comes into it i think we were just not good enough!! plus the fact that our italian manager like most of our other managers yet again decides to play the players out of there normal positions!! when hav you ever seen stevie g on the left,he plays behind el nino for the redmen and that fat manc striker we got plays up top on his own for the s##t and then we leave our most creative and stylish player joe cole who actually plays on the left for the double winning team on the bench!!! crazy!! now fabio wants to stay on for 2 more years,spose 6 mill a year mite have summit to do with it!!! might put mine name forward for the job,its not that hard!!! well stace it has defo been my most unenjoyable world cup ever,i just havnt got into it and those horns are so ####### anoying!! oh yeh guess where im going august........wembley to watch england!!!! haha its a day out,would say bring on the season bt liverpool are in more of a mess than england!! what is happening to my football,ive retired aswell!! anyway hope alls well and the girls look better in daddys colours just have to get them some red tops!!! take it easy punk
oh yeh that was mr m g goulds opinion on the mighty england!!!
Thats a proper rant Stace!!!sickening to watch though wasnt it!!Lampard goal wouldnt have changed a thing!!P.S Beautiful family you got there!!!
Grind.
Of course they'll perform in 2014....well certainly up until the tournament as they have Brazil in the summer rather than the RSA in the winter!!
Marlow Palmer (who used to watch Mr Howard show off his ball skills in Martock's little rec....actually that doesn't sound right :-))
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