Congratulations to Italy for winning a hard-fought final in the World Cup. Commiseration to France who were just pipped at the penalty post. And a great pity for Zidane for a contentious exit to his international career, although he was voted the best player in this year’s tournament. Italy played consistently well throughout the Cup while France peaked at just the right time.

Not the best of World Cups for the English–speaking countries this time. The US team, having been thwarted in the quarter-finals in 2002 did not make the knock-out round, despite two spirited performances in their last two matches. The Socceroos showed their expected mettle, especially in battling Brazil, and did make the final sixteen – thanks to some good displays by Kewell and Viduka. But they were eliminated by Italy in the first round. We can add Trinidad and Tobago to this list, and they played with spirit and courage in holding Sweden to a 0-0 draw – ex-Magpie Shaka Hislop being in rare form. And after an enormous amount of expectation for a highly-vaunted England team, they went out in the quarter-finals to a Portugal side that must get the prize for namby-pamby gamesmanship.

What can England salvage from this year’s competition? They had a powerful midfield that unfortunately fell far short of their potential. Lampard and Gerrard were outstanding performers during the Premiership, but just didn’t click in Germany. Was it due to the heat and humidity or simply fatigue from the rigours of a Premiership season? Apart from a couple of superb goals from set pieces, Beckham was not that commanding. As we predicted, he has resigned as captain and probably should hang up his international boots too. The one resounding success in the midfield was Owen Hargraves who played a blinder. Not really accepted by the English fans because he plays in Germany for Bayern Munich, he has firmly established himself on the national team now.

Our strike force was a fizzle. We lost Owen to a cartilage injury in the opening stages (we’re even more dismayed because it looks though he’ll be out for most of Newcastle’s season too). Walcott was never played and Crouch seemed lost on this stage. Like Owen, Rooney was also recovering from a broken bone in the foot. But nothing was going to stop him from getting back onto the field. This he did against Ecuador and played a brilliant game. But he was largely stymied against Portugal. Perhaps this was due to Sven’s insistence on a 4-5-1 format. (BTW Sven was voted in one poll as among the three worst coaches). Sven’s substitutions were baffling. Given that neither Lampard nor Gerrard were firing on all cylinders, it meant that England had to rely on lucky breaks to score. Joe Cole ran rings around everybody in the early matches but did not fare so well in the knock-out rounds. Terry, Carrick and Ashley Cole defended solidly (I’d like to see Terry as the next captain). Whenever Aaron Lennon came on as a sub, he provided some speed and hope – but in the crucial Portugal game England fell victim to some imaginative professional fouls by their opponents.

The refereeing came in for quite bit of comment. Realistically, with a worldwide pool, there were bound to be differences in style. In the opening group matches, there was an average of 4/5 yellow cards given per game. In the qualifying Holland/Portugal match, 20 cards were given out by the Russian referee: No surprise that he was not asked to referee any more games. That also happened to the only English referee, Graham Poll, who admitted afterwards that he was close to exhaustion at the end of his game because of the heat and humidity. It was estimated that the referees had to run about seven miles during each game. But the large number of yellow cards wasn’t perhaps surprising. When players realise that a ref is yellow-happy, it encourages them to try some diving. One solution to this would be to have two referees on the field as in ice hockey. Don’t forget that American football has four referees and that’s a start/stop game! In the semi-finals the refs let the players call the game, especially for fouls, and this produced a more free-flowing play.

What could be done better in future World Cups? The teams were for the most part evenly matched. Most matches were won after a single goal was scored. The first team to score won 80% of the time. Many matches in the later stages went not only into extra time, but on to the penalty-kick phase too. With one exception the extra time phase did not produce a result. Should this be replaced? Should further substitutes be allowed to give an exhausted team some fresh legs? Should there be a golden goal (as in American football)? Should the teams play on in extra time until someone scores? The penalty shoot-out produced some unexpected results. England and Argentina both went out on penalty kicks. The ball used in the Cup was obviously very goalkeeper-unfriendly (more like a swerving baseball) and had huge bounces.

In my rant after the 2002 World Cup I said “with disappointing inevitability it’s wait until next time.” Unfortunately, the same old England. Let’s hope Steve McLaren can pull some chestnuts out of the next fire.