England, post Norway

Day -716. ‪‎WorldCup2018‬

England aren't having a very good time of it recently, are they? EU, voted out of. Euro 2016, dumped out of. World Cup 2018? Will they be there? More than it did before, their qualifying group is looking rather tricky. Not only will Slovenia and Slovakia now be looking at England as easily beatable, but even the minnows Malta and Scotland will fancy their chances of an upset. The England football team is a badly wounded animal right now, and those wounds may take longer than before to heal. There are going to be some very emotionally fragile English footballers when the qualifiers start in September.

Iceland's win against England today was a huge upset. No matter how much the naysayers may say England losing to a rank outsider is no surprise anymore, the pragmatic neutral view has to be that it is a massive surprise that shouldn't have happened given the gulf in football tradition, experience and professional structure between the two countries. It is massive. And every England player should be ashamed and embarrassed. And every Icelandic player has the right to feel proud of an immense achievement.

I would fear being an English player and showing up on the first day of the Premier League season. Any abuse from the fans is almost justified and I would not be surprised if they are jeered to the point of being asked to be substituted. I doubt how many of the 14 players who played today will be in Russia, if England are even there.

Another player won't be in Russia. The supposedly greatest player of his generation, Lionel Messi, announced his retirement from international football in today's other big news. It is almost as big as the Iceland result. And it makes me angry. Messi was back to his normal, do nothing for Argentina, self when it really mattered in the Copa America final defeat to Chile. After missing a penalty in the shoot-out he announced he was done with Argentina, tired of trying to win after losing 4 major finals. Tired of trying? He quit without making a difference, ever. And he'll scurry back to his comfort zone with Barcelona, with his week in, week out barely competitive matches against the likes of Getafe, Espanyol and Levante. And the media will go head over heels with lavish praise for a hat-trick scored against one of those lowly opponents. But he won't be there when it matters, for one more shot with Argentina, in Russia, against the best in the world. And Diego Maradona will remain as the greatest Argentinian ever. Argument over, and I never thought it begun.

But back to England. The only consolation is that this legendary, mocking commentary might now be forgotten. Or it may be looked at, with nostalgia, as the days when at least "we were losing against Norway".