England 1 USA 1

It can only be a matter of time before the ever-hopefuls in our midst get excited about the parallels between last night’s England performance against the USA, and the equally boring first game against Uruguay in 1966.

But parallels only work when the circumstances have the same causes and matched circumstances. So there is no parallel at all in this case.

Against Uruguay in 1966, England were frustrated by a very well-organised south American defence with little or no ambition beyond the halfway line. Last night, England failed to create and take chances handed to them by a USA eleven that is not up to the standard of the last World Cup side.

In 1966, England were using a wingless formation with overlapping full-backs, a Ramsey obsession taking full account of the fact that we didn’t have any great wingers at the time. Our team for the opening SA game last night reflects the fact that we don’t have enough world-class players any more – or indeed a reliable goalkeeper.

The reason we have only Rooney and Gerrard is the starvation of the national game in favour of money and Murdoch. Apart from Heskey (who is a workmanlike black Roger Hunt) where are the 2010 Balls, the Moores, the Charltons, and Gordon Banks? They’re probably delivering bread somewhere.

The ITV coverage last night followed the worn-out media formula to the last widened channel and flat back four. We can go all the way, this time we’re in with a chance, we are anybody’s equal….the same cobblers that preceded the German effort four years ago. As a culture now, we cannot resist the hype, hysteria and hubris before we actually play anyone – followed by tears, tantrums and tacky assaults on the manager when it all goes pear-shaped. It is indeed the much-discussed but never tackled tabloid culture of hero and villain, black and white, love-rat and hunk, fit bird and slapper. We have lost our subtlety as a nation, and it shows in the national team, the politics, the big business opportunism and the banking madness.

We will qualify for the final stages, of that I’m reasonably sure. We might squeeze through to the semi-final. But we are not going to win, and we never were: the World Cup is real, and England no longer is.