England 0 Algeria 0

Although I was only seven at the time, I can still recall the celebrations and street parties after England won the World  Cup in 1966.  It's all a long time ago and over the years my memory has probably played tricks on me by making me remember everything bigger and better than it actually was, but the Charlton's (Bobby and Jack) were, in effect, my next door neighbours.   They were local boys who'd made it big and we followed every kick of the ball in the hope that they would win the cup for us.
Of course the medium of the day (for us) was radio and at times we would have a dozen people in our front room, all willing the team to victory.

Last night's game however ... England's second and supposedly easiest game ... was absolutely terrible and lacked any sense of pride for the Three Lions that the team of '66 displayed. Algeria at times played out of their skins, even though the had very few real efforts at goal, but England should never have got out of bed that morning if that was all they could come up with.

On the positive side though, England did ...

• find the right stadium
• wear the right strip
• find someone to tie their boot laces for them
• have a goalkeeper without holes in his hands

Let's just hope that they continue to get those right in training before the next game, which they have to win.

On darker side, they ....

• couldn't hold the ball 
• couldn't pass the ball
• passed the ball back to the keeper over 30 times (twice almost gifting the ball to Algeria)
• lacked imagination (got that one from Adrian Chiles .... God! He's so miserable)
• had players (again) playing out of position (Gerrard, to accommodate Lampard [who was terrible])
• had Wayne Rooney looking like he couldn't give a damn (in the second half anyway)

There were soooooooooooooo many more negatives highlighted by last nights game and, sad to say, there was nothing positive that would give any true England fan hope.

This morning the Welsh and the Scots will be gloating (and rightly so) over England's dire performance, but at least England qualified and got a free holiday.

This my 'Last Word'  about England ...

... have you noticed that Emile Heskey looks just like a young Bill Cosby?