England gave away the first half against France last night (and effectively conceded this quarterfinal game) – whilst dominating and ‘exposing’ France throughout the second half! The psychological effect of the French first goal finished the match – such was the devastating and forceful ease (elan) with which it was scored! Everything after this point of the game was a footnote. I know this because I have witnessed this England self-destruct mechanism in action over many, many decades and am now an old hand at assessing this form of spherical self-flagellation! The tragedy is that for much of the game England were by far the better side – but having just watched Morrocco make history by becoming the first ‘African’ nation to make it to the quarterfinals of the World Cup (although not many ‘Black’ Africans are celebrating the progression of a population of Arab invaders occupying an ‘African’ country) – it was odd to see Morrocco fans supporting France! The former ‘colonised’ supporting their ‘colonisers’! If England had scored the numerous chances the players earned (and not ‘missed’ a crucial penalty) – England would now be playing Morrocco in the semi-finals! But then again, the same weaknesses in the English game would still exist and I would probably be sat at this laptop knocking-out a similar article of failure and despair in just a few days’ time – as a jubilant Morrocco march on to the final – probably with Argentina!
