With any luck, England will finally turn on a team performance on Saturday. If they don't, then I won't be heartbroken to see them go out. I hate to say that, but it's true. Contrary to what some of the players have been saying, there's more to the game than winning badly.
The Indy's John Carlin writes more in sorrow than anger:
The best thing for England would be to lose on Saturday. For the good of the game... Because the last thing you want is to stay on to the semi-finals and draw the world's attention to just how badly, and - more to the point - how meekly, England play football these days. If this England were to go ahead and win the World Cup, the world would never forgive us. A century or more of global esteem would go down the plughole...
My point, and I suppose not all that many people in England have had the opportunity to grasp this, is that their nation is viewed with tremendous regard in the footballing world. I travel a lot for
my day job and, whether I am out reporting on grotesque human rights abuses in Rwanda or electoral fraud in Mexico, always, without fail, the subject of football comes up. And always, without fail, someone says something warm and complimentary about English football...
It is because of Eriksson that it would be good if Portugal were to put his team out of their misery on Saturday. Good for the English game, establishing as it would once and for all how England must not play.
On a more up-beat note, the German blog Atlantic Review has some fan shots and reactions to the US team's performance.
