The World Cup already seems long past but it’s only a fortnight since we had such high hopes for England, after they limped through the group stage.

We have some happy memories to take from the 2010 World Cup alongside the anger, disappointment and frustration at the inadequacy of our England side.

How far removed it all seemed as skilled, resilient Spain overcame cynical Holland to claim the coveted trophy! That’s how England fans like me back home felt after such abject failure, so the supporters that travelled to South Africa and spent a fortune to rally themselves behind Capello’s men no doubt have those emotions multiplied several times over.

Some people thought that it would be all over when England lifted the trophy - but that shows how wrong the hype and idolatry surrounding our national team has become. The reality could hardly be in starker contrast to our hopes and expectations.

The excellent BBC pages have many features and videos on all the teams and key events:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2010/

Well done to Spain, winners for the first time! They added the world crown to their European title and played stylish football in lifting the game’s highest honour.

The Netherlands must have a schizophrenic view of their achievement. The beaten finalists have of course achieved great things - but at a great cost to their footballing credibility.

Their method has reversed, from total football to total aggression - and for those of us reared on their classic sides of 30 years ago, witnessing the power of van Basten, the grace of Cruyff, it was a shock to see such a cynical, take-no-prisoners approach.

The rest of the world collectively breathed a sigh of relief when Iniesta elegantly netted the crucial strike.

Cruyff himself - a hero in Spain having levitated FC Barcelona to supreme club achievements in a style befitting his own talents - labelled his national side’s display as ‘ugly, vulgar, hard, hermetic’. The Dutch ball-wizard said that their approach ‘hurt’ him and that it was ‘anti-football’. He also thought that referee Webb was too lenient in dealing with some of the horrendous tackles.

For other Dutch followers to attack Webb for his handling of the game when he was otherwise perhaps lenient with some of Spain’s challenges is off-beam. The record yellow card tally only underlines the persistent aggression shown by the players - mainly Dutch ones.

Webb endeavoured to prevent the final from becoming an unequal farce; it could have been abandoned had Holland found a few more players dismissed due to their determinedly violent conduct.

Mr Webb isn’t loved by English fans, pundits and players either but you could imagine the final degenerating into a far more scandalous affair had a less able referee been submerged in that difficult, adrenalin-fuelled game.

Webb allowed Spain to play on and score the crucial goal, after incidents at the other end of the park; many adjudge it poetic justice for a fitting climax to the match. Holland could have been reduced to 8 or 9 men with the game ruined as a spectacle, or abandoned.

Curiously, when football - rather than ‘clogging’ - geddit? was attempted by the Dutch, the Spanish goalkeeper Casillas seemed one of the few players to demonstrate mastery of the infamous Jabulani football with his safe handling and crucial saves.

My view is that the peculiar behaviour of the football, or player unfamiliarity with it (or both), detracted from the best football possible being facilitated in the tournament. Some of the world’s most highly-rated players hardly came to terms with the ball at all: Kaka, Messi, errmm Rooney and others, and free kicks seldom found their target.

The tournament didn’t quite catch fire in some ways, perhaps (apart from the Jabulani) it was because the stakes were so high, the media pressure and fear of defeat stifling many teams and denying the freedom of expression that the world exhibition of ‘the beautiful game’ deserved.

Prior to the final, favourites Brazil suddenly crashed, their temperament found wanting, and Argentina ran out of steam. Uruguay can be proud of their progress and Germany look as if they are building another irrepressible footballing machine. The Germans edged Uruguay 3-2 to clinch victory in the third-place final.

For Germany’s Thomas Mueller to win the Golden Boot award at only 20 years of age is a sobering occurrence and an achievement that England’s masters must strive to see emulated by a player with Three Lions on his shirt.

The implosion of France, England and Italy surprised many but all three countries now have to reflect and restructure on their vastly under-achieving efforts.

South African teams brought much to the tournament and the footballing progress of many of the countries of that continent has been as rapid as some of the social advances. Let’s hope there is a real legacy for the ordinary citizens of the continent.

The insistent rasp of the vuvuzelas will also stay in our memories as the unofficial soundtrack to every game; English Championship matches will seem like rather quiet affairs by comparison!

In the final analysis, the SA teams were lacking a little quality and focus to marry with their exuberance and desire. Ghana was, however, only denied further glory by ‘cheating’ football after Sousa’s fateful handball. If only Ghana had not spurned their golden chance when they failed to score from the resultant penalty!

The comparatively early failures and elimination of the other South African nations will be far more warmly remembered than England’s hopeless shambles. Even the Aussies and Americans have more to be proud of from their combative teams than we do from our slow, leggy Shirehorses.

English fans usually had a ‘villain’ to pillory on his return to League action after our previous glorious failures in tournaments, such as Beckham in his early career, or the penalty-missers Southgate, Pearce and Waddle. This time, it’s just general disgust with the whole bunch of ‘inglorious ----terds!’

England now rank at 13th in the World Cup ratings, falling seven places to our lowest placing in the list. (Curiously, they have actually climbed the overall FIFA rankings table – most odd!) Ghana, Paraguay, Chile, South Korea and (horror!) the USA are all more highly-rated in the current status of world football’s achievers.

That should be pretty sobering for whoever is in charge at the FA in Soho Square this week. It underlines the reality that although the English Premier League is one of the top leagues, that’s only because of the large number of expensive imported star players in many of those EPL squads.

To remove those undesirable 12 places between England and the top of the pile, I’ve listed 12 objectives for the FA, Football League and EPL to work together on (if they can). I won’t be holding my breath!

The national team might then be as competitive and successful as we delude ourselves that we should be, and you can take these aims as seriously as you wish:

• Get shut of Trevor Brooking and appoint a Technical Director who will technically develop our game.

• Replace Capello’s coaches with competent people that can prepare a team properly and brief them about the opposition.

• Stabilise the FA and endeavour to modernise and integrate all our football authorities.

• Brainstorm, showdown or do whatever is needed to get clubs and managers to buy into the value of a successful national side as a sincere priority.

• Ensure that the Burton Centre of Excellence is fully operational as soon as possible. Spending ten years postponing and procrastinating was disgraceful.

• Pay expenses to England players with a bonus only if the team wins, then further bonuses for qualifying and reaching further stages of competitions.

• Implement strict club squad composition regulations to ensure local and home-grown talent plays regularly in the Premier League.

• Prioritise/fund grass roots Academy coaching; inculcate ball skills - adopt an agreed ‘method’ throughout the English game, as Klinsman did in Germany.

• If a winter break is introduced, deduct points if clubs take their squads abroad for lucrative but exhausting and spurious overseas tournaments.

• Pick in-form, fit players, not media favourites or romantic inclusions.

• Exclude destabilising philanderers & scandal-magnets from the squad so that no divisive influences exist; players must focus on the football task in hand. 

• Win back disgusted England fans and be inclusive by playing friendly games on a nationwide stadium circuit, playing only qualifiers at Wembley.

No doubt you can pick the pros and cons out of all of those objectives and it would be possible to write a feature on each and every one of them! So - write them for RZ!

Here’s hoping that English football can get back on the rails, starting with the European Championships. England plays Hungary in a Wembley friendly within a month, with Euro qualifying games against Bulgaria and Switzerland in September.

For the time being, the focus is trained on the upcoming domestic season but I hope that those in the corridors of power now work hard towards tangible aims that will ensure there is never a repeat of the 2010 fiasco from our national side.

As the joyous Spanish players shook the elusive Jules Rimet Trophy in the air and danced in delirium amid the cascading golden ticker-tape explosion, I felt happy for them and happy for football that an attractive, skilful team won the trophy, and that cynicism and brutality did not triumph.

It must have been great to be a football fan in Madrid that night, instead of just a couch potato watching it unfold in England in miniature, on the TV screen!

I’ve modified the chorus of Bob Seger’s poignant song, “The Famous Final Scene” which inspired the title to this article as a sombre postscript to my 2010 World Cup watch. Sadly, my re-write now reads:

“As the light fades from the screen, in the famous final scene....with England nowhere to be seen!”

Until the next time, or the time after that...

Photo: Action Images

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