It is strange, England being knocked out of the World Cup really has not affected my interest in it at all. I have never felt any particular affinity to this group of players.
The accusation that I am not patriotic has been levelled at me as a result of this. Though I would never claim to be ludicrously loyal to my nation, I feel that this group of players is so far removed from what makes me feel any pride about being English that I could never whip myself into even an artificial sense of national pride when watching them play
However, having stated my dislike for the players as individuals, I was pleased to see what Joe Cole had to say about the World Cup campaign - http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_6244171,00.html - and agree totally.
It is not that we do not have good players, we just lack players who have the necessary qualities, technical ability and discipline to play modern international football.
It is a shame that he looks like he will end up down at Sh*te Hart Lane next season.
The Germans shone once again - now there is a team that is equipped to play high quality international football. Bastian Schweinsteiger looks like he is having the World Cup this year that everyone said Andrea Pirlo had last time round. What a wonderful post-hoc rationalisation that was, Italy won therefore Pirlo must have been outstanding.
After all the controversy about England's 'ghost goal' against Germany much has been said about the need for goal-line technology. Personally, I believe that it is necessary, linesman (whose job it is to be inline with the last defender) are often not in the perfect position to judge whether the ball has crossed the line or not. Their job should be made easier by the introduction of goal line technology which would enable a quick and correct decision to be made.
There has been a lot of argument about the cost of installation of the systems and to whom the bill would fall - in this article (http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/sectors/sport/hawk-eye-seeks-sponsors-for-goal-line-technology-deal/3015402.article) HawkEye suggest that the the cost would be easily covered by sponsorship revenue. Both FIFA and the Premier League love money from sponsorship, maybe someone should just tell them that they could make cash from the move. You would be surprised by how quickly the need to protect the integrity of the game would go about the window when they are faced with a pot of money from Barclay's, Green Flag, Carling or whoever it may be.
On that note, it seems like the majority of brands who have invested heavily in player endorsement deals may be regretting doing so. Everyone has heard of the 'Nike Ad Curse' - http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/jun/29/worldcup2010-spain - but overall this has not been a good World Cup for most big name players (the type for are used in adverts), regardless of whether they wear Nike boots or Adidas or Puma (just ask Kaka, Messi and Anelka). None of the players in that 'Pringoals' ad have done much of note in this tournament (on the pitch - looking at you Anelka), its just that that advert was so f*cking terrible in the first place that appearing in it was almost tantamount to being cursed from the off.
The brand associated with the World Cup that has stuck with me the most is Castrol - only because they do the 'Castrol Index' - something you can actually use and would refer to in normal (if very statty and geeky) conversations. And while some of it is nonsense - Capdevilla surely cannot have been the best player at the World Cup until yesterday - the brand has stuck with me more than most. And, I now know Mesut Ozil has scored one penalty and missed one penalty - both low to the keeper's left
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