What a load of rubbish...

"Nice to see your own fans booing you, that's what loyal support is."

These were the words of Wayne Rooney as he left the field in Cape Town, staring straight down the lens of a camera after playing in possibly the worst England football performance for many a long year.

The 0-0 draw against Algeria was, from an England perspective weak, uninspiring, amateurish and utterly bewildering for its lack of cohesion. For those reasons alone, every England fan from Table Mountain to Wembley had all the justification in the world to boo their team's performance. Wayne Rooney, however, doesn't share our disappointment. Well Wayne, let us try and explain where we're coming from on this one.

For a start, us England supporters were under the strange misconception that you and your white-shirted colleagues were capable of undertaking the bare basics for any footballer worth his salt - namely to kick a ball in such a fashion that it reaches its intended destination. In case you're still not sure, Wayne, you have two options where this is concerned:

1. A fellow team-mate of yours, or
2. (and this is by far the ideal option) the back of the opposing team's goal net.

In both cases, you all failed to do this for the vast majority of the match last night. Not very impressive.

It's possible we've all over-estimated the capacity you and you colleagues have for playing such a high-quality brand of football week in and week out. On reflection though, this is unlikely. Why else would your respective clubs pay you more per week than many of us booing ignoramsuses earn in several years?

You live in lavish, enormous houses, own cars the likes of us will only ever see in magazines and travel to parts of the world we can only ever dream of. Your very reputation as a footballer of the highest quality can open doors that permanently keep us riff-raff out.

You can't have reached that sort of position in life by playing the kind of football seen in every Primary School playground up and down the UK, can you? Oh... perhaps you have.

There are no excuses. Having nerves when faced up against a team that was beaten by Malawi at the last African Cup of Nations makes no sense. The Jabulani ball may be deemed to have unpredictable movement by some, but not by you, Wayne. You said as much to the press this week, remember? And tiredness? Don't give us that. You're just the latest in a long line of football players stretching back over more than a hundred years, all of whom got tired but didn't use it as an excuse to play like a bunch of clueless lightweights as you did last night.

No Wayne, the reason why so many of us were booing is because each and every one of us realises how lucky it is to have a national team to support at the finals of a World Cup. It only comes around every four years, and even then our team doesn't always qualify, but this time it did. We were ready to get behind you and your fellow professionals knowing that you all realised what a rare privilege it was to play at a World Cup. We wanted to feel the glory just like you and your mates, and we provided every single ounce of support you could ever have wished for. All it needed was for you and the team to match that in effort and skill, for that is what we know you're all capable of.

You let us down Wayne. That's why we booed. Remember that as you go back to your cossetted life of luxury and happiness. Some of us have to work a damn sight harder than you to get it, but all we ask for is a little escapism to numb the pain from day to day. That's what you're there for, Wayne, but perhaps we were asking for too much.

Sound of Football Episode 25 - England World Cup Special

This week's Sound Of Football podcast is available for you to download.

Join us at Graham's house as we take advantage of the fact that all three of us were in the same place at the same time to record a show for you - and a special one at that.

This week we take a look at England's chances in the World Cup in the wake of the latest controversy surrounding John Terry. We ask if Terry should continue as skipper, if Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard might suffer from burn out by the time the tournament begins and we ponder the defensive and goalkeeping permutations.

There's a load of other stuff too, so check it out and let us know what you think.

You can listen to the podcast here or if you right click on that link, you can download the MP3. Alternatively, you can subscribe via the your reader of choice or via our iTunes feed.

Time for our stars to lead by example

I can see you're dying to ask me, so let me save you the embarrassment. Yes, I did watch the England v USA international friendly match last night. Was I pleased with the result? I suppose I was, really. Always nice to win, of course. Was I pleased with England's performance? In as much as one can be when they've won 2-0 against reasonable opposition in a meaningless friendly, yes.

Unfortunately, although last night's game ended in a relatively satisfactory way, there was one sour note that lingered on for me. I know this has been discussed before and I'm probably going to open up a can of worms again, but I was quite appalled by the conduct of two of England's players with regard to the influence they'll have on the young children watching.

I give two examples to explain my point. Firstly, there was an incident in the second-half when Wayne Rooney was spoken to by the referee following a tackle on one of the USA players. I think he might have even been booked at the time, but what I do recall quite clearly was the image on my TV of Rooney repeatedly shouting the words "f*** off" at the referee as he walked away from the official. Not a very mature way to react, in my opinion.

Secondly, an England attack on the US goal sometime later was brought to an abrupt halt by the referee's whistle (again, excuse me but the exact reason why escapes me - I think a foul or offside was called), and this resulted in John Terry running back to his own half uttering the F-word openly several times in abject frustration at the referee's decision.

I couldn't help but think that for any kids watching the game last night, this was not the example to set them. I know many children these days have a more than accomplished expletive vocabulary before they're out of kindergarten, but it's not them I'm concerned about. They've already been let down by their parents and probably society as a whole, so maybe there's little that can be done for them now.

It's the kids who are being brought up by responsible people in a respectable environment that I fear for. Not only are they being given every encouragement to swear profusely by their sporting heroes, but they're also being taught that it's OK to disrespect their superiors and elders.

Now before I carry on, I know there'll be plenty of you out there telling me to wake up, smell the coffee and get real, but this really irritates me. The likes of Rooney and Terry need to realise they are role models for kids and are as responsible as anyone for making sure they get the right messages and influences during their developmental years. Given the amount of money they're earning every week, they've surely got to justify it one way or the other and this is just one way of many.

Of course one way to look at this is to suggest some form of punishment that would discourage players from acting so irresponsibly. My wife, a keen rugby union and cricket fan, tells me that in the former you can be sin-binned for acting in an unsportsmanlike way towards the referee. This sounds like a fair way of dealing with the problem to me, especially if the temporary expulsion from the game were to last around 15 minutes or more. I personally feel the absence of such talented players for that time would certainly put extra pressure on their team-mates and discourage them from acting that way again.

There's also the option of heavily fining the players involved, but let's face it, the fine would have to run into six figures to make them lose any sleep over their actions, and that's not going to happen.

So what else can be done? What are your thoughts and ideas on the matter? Should I be cutting a bit more slack for supposedly committed, professional players like Rooney and Terry or should they be punished more severely for their poor demeanour?

Let us know what you think by leaving us a comment… oh and remember, any swearing will not be tolerated… ;-)

News Round-Up

Just three days to go now and if you thought you were starting to feel the tension build, spare a thought for Ilija Petkovic, say our Eastern Europe correspondents Portman and Emma.

Following the result of a recent referendum for independence, the Serbia & Montenegro coach is apprehensively gearing up to make a momentus decision: will he manage Serbia, Montenegro or both in the World Cup Finals?

Research shows that no man has ever coached two countries on the world stage before, but since Montenegro's decision to go it alone and opt for self-rule, Petkovic could find himself making history as the first multi-team coach at the World Cup. We wish him well.

Elsewhere, the England team have been training in their new Umbro training kit, and Portman and Emma can exclusively reveal that the motif adopted by the manufacturers is in fact based on two worms making love. "The design reflects the national team's harmonious co-existence with nature and the need to show love to one another" said an Umbro spokesperson. Kind of.



And so to yesterday where the England team boarded their specially chartered British Airways jet to take them to their base camp in Germany. The plane was renamed 'Pride of the Nation' (replacing the old name 'Victory in Japan / Korea') and even the headrests inside featured messages sent in from England fans for each of the players. Wayne Rooney's headrest had the message "We hope your toe heals up soon", David Beckham's said "Score a hat-trick for all the fans back home!" and Theo Walcott's headrest showed the words "I haven't the foggiest idea who you are, but can you get me Steven Gerrard's autograph, please?"

More news when we get it...