Once you have won the most coveted trophy in football, though it be many many moons ago, there is a sudden rise in national pride, an insurgence of belief that is hard to curtail. Since 1966 we have seldom had a chance to breathe, almost every breath is accompanied by some obnoxious prat praising the England team and living of past glories, it's time to get real.

There might still be indeed some real quality players in the green and pleasant pastures of the English country side, and they may indeed be World Class , but bringing them together as a rabble of stars eager to fill their own coffers and create themselves an even greater star status isn't the answer.

Perhaps during the latest sad saga in English football I was watching another team, perhaps a stream of warm summer rain washed away the rose tint from my spectacles, but I saw little evidence of a TEAM. There is plenty room for blaming the manager for certain situations and even tactics, but the bottom line is that if the players don't follow instructions then it ain't worth doodle squat. It makes no difference how good on paper a team appear to be, it makes no difference what you or I think, the only difference in FACT can be made on the field of play. I saw absolutely very little evidence that any of the players ( with the exception of a few ) really had their heart in it. Their appeared to be very little effort and it was all me me me. When passes should have been made, Mr Superstar would decide to have a go through half a dozen more eager defenders in the off chance he could become England's saviour and be plastered all over the tabloids as a hero. Football ain't about hero's it's about teamwork.

Good teamwork will show up a world class player to be exactly that, whilst trying to be Mr Fantastic and grab all the glory will only serve you get you quickly knocked out a major competition that you had the ability as a team to qualify for. It's not 1966 anymore but there is more than potential in this current squad, there is just no belief anymore, no belief as a team.

I love football I've always loved football, but England seriously need to get rid of the ego's it's the ego's that are losing the games, it's the ego's that lost the games. We can all write here and moan there and come up with hundreds of plausible excuses why qualification failed. We can blame the manager the FA even God, but a t the end of the day it's the players who must surely take the brunt of criticism and blame for it is they who are the one's who are charged with the task of playing the best team game in the world, so next time get it right and start playing as a team.