Roy Hodgson and Harry Redknapp could be credible England coaches but neither has won the trophies that a Capello or Sven Goran-Eriksson had won.

The England Football Manager job is one of the highest paid football management jobs in the world- because they carry the hopes and dreams of the nation (however unrealistic they are). It is important to get the best qualified coach possible. Failure is not an option. To overlook a world class coach to have someone English in charge is a mistake that the FA do not want to repeat.

Sam Allardyce would have been a possibility. Probably too late for that now.

On the basis his form would return in which of the 4 games? Is it a sensible selection policy to offer 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th chances to allow a player to try and find their form, after several previous friendlies where his form was also indifferent? That's pretty much an entire international season.

And the backlash as a result of the early exit is any more preferable?

There were so many other poor performance's by individuals that the early exit would've occured with or without Rooney. But the ommission of Rooney would've started backlash from all corners before the tournament had even begun.

Rooney on form is one hell of a player and England needed that. England aren't exactly deep with talent.

I think some of the criticism of Rooney was harsh. I thought he was reasonable against Slovenia. CBC went on about him but that's because their journalism is lazy and they just discuss simple topics taken from the print media.

Sod the ****ing manager lets get some decent players.

Yes, ultimately there is only so much turd polish a manager can bring along.

so the coaches and players are shit.

Whilst the manager (and coaches) can take their share of the blame, I think most of the responsibility for Englands lacklustre performance is due to the stench of shit coming off the players.

Mes derniere mots.

Netherlands 3-1 Germany in the final.

World War III breaks out soon afterwards, with a lot of spitting on both sides.

Good luck all.

A bientot.

Clematis Paraguay 2 Japan 1
Clematis Spain 3 Portugal 2

Yes.

England has the best fans in the world and the best ex-pats but we are let down by everything else.

JamesM 12
Greenhill 10
Clematis 9
LordVader 7
PartiallyDischarged 7
Oink 6
Alan2005 5
OinksNan 5
VadersGoldfish 3
GreenVale 3

2 July (Friday)...predictions before 11:00am AST please

* Netherlands 0 Brazil 0
* Uruguay 0 Ghana 0

PartiallyDischarged Netherlands 1 Brazil 2
PartiallyDischarged Uruguay 1 Ghana 2