This was the last chance of the so called ?Golden Generation? to shine at a World Cup. This was their last chance to win the greatest trophy in the sport. They failed…miserably.

Not many of this current squad will ever compete in a World Cup. And after this display, they deserve not to, considering the further embarrassment which they show their nation. By the time of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Rio Ferdinand will be 35, John Terry and Ashley Cole will be 33, Steven Gerrard will be 34 and Frank Lampard will turn 36 during the World Cup. Most, if not all, will not be at the World Cup and may be in retirement by then.

England?s easy group stage matches turned into a group of death for them. Two painstaking draws against USA and minnows Algeria left England needing a win against Slovenia. A scrappy and awful match gave England the win they craved but it pitted them against arch-rivals Germany in the 2^nd round. Already, England was confident and the signs were looking good.

However, manager Fabio Capello stuck with the poor, boring 4-4-2 system farming the inspirational captain, Steven Gerrard on the left. The decision to stick with the Terry-Upson partnership proved catastrophic when Germen hitmen Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski fired in to give the Germans a 2-0 lead.

Matthew Upson did redeem himself when he headed in a quick response to give England a lifeline. Suddenly, the shift of momentum was with England and the whole nation thought, this is our year. How wrong they could be.

Frank Lampard?s controversial disallowed goal obviously affected the outcome but the English defence was disastrously woeful when conceding two Thomas Muller goals when caught on the counter-attack. The 4-1 scoreline caused many fans? stomachs to turn having to watch that shambolic defending. It would have no doubt made the late Bobby Moore turn in his grave having to watch that excruciating piece of defending.

While the players come back home from a dismal showing, thought has to go to the next World Cup in four years. Most of the players in the current squad will have retired or will be past their prime. This will give a worrying sight to England fans and cause a decline in the English game which is already showing now with the lack of English players at the top clubs. Things have to be done to sort this mess out otherwise in the not so near future, performances at this World Cup would be considered a miracle due to lack of quality English talent being brought into the game. Is that what you want?

GOALS

England ? USA ? 1:1 (1:1, 0:0)

Goals: 1:0 ? Gerrard (4), 1:1 ? Dempsey (40).

ENGLAND – Green – Johnson, King (Carragher 46), Terry, Ashley Cole – Lennon, Gerrard, Lampard, Milner (Wright-Phillips 30) ? Rooney, Heskey (Crouch 79)

UNITED STATES – Howard – Cherundolo, DeMerit, Onyewu, Bocanegra – Donovan, Clark, Bradley, Dempsey ? Findley (Buddle 77), Altidore (Holden 86)

This scenario brings into focus how you handle your transfers during this break. I can offer two bits of advice for all you fantasy premiership managers -

1) Firstly, if a player on your team is taking part in a world cup playoff match, be wary of using your transfers early on. The player may get injured, and not be available for your team on the following game week. It may be worth holding onto the transfer until after the match, and then checking on the player?s status. If they do get injured, then you can use your transfer to swap them out, instead of losing four points, to do an extra transfer. Also if you have quality substitutes, then you could also demote the injured player to the bench.

2) If the international match is a friendly match, like the England vs. Brazil match coming up; the likelihood the international players get injured is a lot less, than a competitive match. Managers generally like to experiment and do not exert the players more than normal. Also a lot of substitutes are generally used, to access all available options. Even though it is a friendly, players will still get injured -so be beware of this!

In all honesty, it is generally a good thing to save your substitution until after all the international matches ? including the friendly ones. It may save you points for being vigilant afterwards, and having a quality substitute?s bench!

Let us go a little further behind the Serie A to examine the emergence of football leagues, shall we? English immigrants were the ones to first start a league (sometime around the year 1891), and it was separate for Italians and foreigners, but they merged sometime around 1897. Genoa Cricket and Athletic Club (now called as Genoa Cricket and Football club) was the first club that was established. In 1898, the Italian Football Federation was established in Turin, with four clubs. These four were Genoa, Internazionale di Torino, FC Torinese and the Societ? Ginnastica di Torino. It is interesting to note that there were other football clubs that existed around this time, but refrained from joining the league. What is even more interesting is that the entire first season of Italian league football was finished in one single day! Genoa claimed the title beating Internazionale Torino 2-1 in the final. This was the remarkable first season in Italian football.

Apart from some shrewd tactical football that this league has been known for, the statistics that they can boast of are almost unmatched, the world over. The highest number of European Cup finalists has come from Serie A. That number is a mammoth 25, boasting of 11 wins in the process. Also, the Ballon d?Or, the most prestigious award for a footballer, has been won most times by players playing at a Serie A club. AC Milan, one of the heavyweights of this league, has won the most international titles in the world (18 ? jointly with CA Boca Juniors), and Juventus has the distinction of being the only club on the face of the earth to have won all official club competitions! So, dear readers, remember that apart from the definition of defending, this league possesses a whole lot more to it!

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