SUSO

THE GREAT CREATIVE VOID

Why do we love football? Because it’s the beautiful game. Because of the artistry. Because of the little half turn. Because of the angled pass with the outside of the boot. Because of the team. Because of togetherness. Because of the fight, the heart, the steel, the passion, the belief. Because of the power. Because of the love. Because of the control. Because of the subtleties, the unseen touches, the flicks and the feints. Because of the theatre, the crowds, the loyalty, the support, the devotion, the passion. Just because.

Year upon year of predictable failure and campaigns devoid of any of the above left me clinging to a few faint traces of hope leading into last night’s game. Might we, for once, play well? Might I actually enjoy an England game? 90 minutes later, all hope was gone. What is the point exactly? I’m not happy we failed. Nor am I hopeful that this will elicit some kind of reaction deep within the FA or at grass roots level so that, in a gazillion years time, we’ll win the World Cup. Nope. I’m just beyond caring. I woke up this morning entirely ambivalent about the whole thing. The Euro will be a better place for it. When have we ever contributed anything to major tournaments beyond false dawns writ large across back pages. We will win the world cup, we scream. The rest of the world just laughs, and rightly so.

Last night, Lawrenson described Croatia as a ‘technical’ team. Um, yes, they are technical insofar as they can control a ball, turn around, keep hold of it and pass it accurately to a teammate who can then do something similar. But we’re not talking about Zico, Platini and Best here. This is Croatia. What Lawro should have said, perhaps, was that Croatia are a ‘technical’ side compared to England, who, as a collective, are a sad and abject wasteland devoid of anything even resembling technique.

What’s more, you just know that, had we qualified, the team would have spent a month in an Alpine spa surrounded by a fleet of vulgar WAGs getting their arses wiped and their nails trimmed while reading the English press - at least those who can - telling them how good they are and how they deserve to win the European Championships ‘cos they played well for their club once or twice. This is all hypothetical, of course, but what the FA should have done, had we got there, is tell each member of the squad to make their own way to a Scottish prison where... Actually, start again... First and foremost, blow up the WAGs, then tell each squad member to convene at Bar L prison in Scotland where they’ll have a little steel beaten into them. Up there, north of the border, they breed footballers who, admittedly, might lack a little something in imagination, and they might not be the creative virtuosos of Brazil, but they are undeniably determined. And determination can take you anywhere - except the Euros, it seems, or at least not beyond an imaginative and creative World Cup winning side that itself doesn’t lack for determination.

England sadly does. Or rather, England just does.

Categories Sport Tags Sport

By on 22/11/07