Torn apart, limb from limb

FABIO CAPELLO insisted hewould not resign after England’smiserable 4-1 defeat to Germany sent them out of the World Cup but such is the blame culture in English football that it may yet be impossible for the Italian to remain in charge for the European Championships, so disappointing was the nature of yesterday’s capitulation.

It wasn’t just that England were soundly beaten by a young German team that was by no means one of the pre-tournament favourites, it was the fact that once again the Premiership’s star players reverted to type under pressure in a big tournament.

The hope was that after two years working under Capello, England would have the ability to change their style in this World Cup and play a more controlled, Italian-style game.

But when it came to the most hyped match of the tournament so far, what we saw was 11 English players haring around the pitch, attacking at will but defending without shape – and losing by the biggest margin in their history at a World Cup finals.

Germany’s opening goal, twisted home by Miroslav Klose in the 20th minute came after Matthew Upson failed to deal with a simple long goal-kick and it was followed by more inept defending when Mueller crossed for Podolski to unleash an unerring left-foot finish for 2-0 on 32 minutes.

An Upson header from a Gerrard short-corner routine at least gave England hope and they had cause for complaint when Frank Lampard lobbed an equaliser just before half-time, only for the Uruguayan linesman to insist the ball had not crossed the line. That, of course, brought back memories of Geoff Hurt’s goal in the 1966 final but on this occasion video replays showed the ball clearly did cross the line, and by some distance.

It was a key moment, but the way Germany were allowed to run away with victory in the second half means England cannot justifiably heap blame on the officials for their exit.

At 2-1 down England, with Lampard working tirelessly in midfield, were by no means out of it and had they reached the final 10 minutes just a single goal behind it could yet have become a landmark night for Capello; instead his players lost their heads, Germany counter-attacked and the ruthlessly efficient Thomas Mueller punished them badly.

Lampard did go close to equalising with a free-kick that came back off the crossbar but from another free-kick, this time blocked, Germany raced away to make it 3-1, Schweinsteiger producing the final pass for Mueller.

The same player scored number four, this time after substitute Joe Cole gave away possession, and all England’s hopes and dreams disappeared with it.

So now, just like when England failed to qualify for Euro 2008 under Steve McClaren and just like when they lost in the quarter-finals of Germany 2006 under Sven-Goran Eriksson the country must go through the whole ‘who’s to blame’ debate again.

Capello plays the game well; in the week before the World Cup he agreed an amended contract with Club England chairman Dave Richards, removing on both sides an escape clause that would have allowed either party to walk away from the deal after the World Cup.

So it was hardly surprising that when asked I he would resign, Capello replied “absolutely not”. But then the Italian seemed to backtrack by adding: “I have to speak with the chairman. I want to speak with the chairman to decide my future, to see if he has confidence in me or not.”

That was the kind of answer that raised more questions than it answered, but Capello wasn’t about to make things any clearer, insisting when pressed: “We have to wait. We have to think about everything.”

The inquest into England’s miserable World Cup, which also included below-par draws against the United States and Algeria, and no goals from key striker Wayne Rooney, will be long and wailing; and it will start this afternoon in Rustenburg when England hold one last press conference before flying home to a no-doubt empty Heathrow.

Capello admitted England had not played well in South Africa, but offered few explanations. “The performances were not good. We played the first game against USA not so bad and we made a mistake, but we had chances to score goals. We played a bad game against Algeria, we played well against Slovenia. But today you are speaking about the performance after the goal wasn’t given. If the referee had blown for the goal it would have been different. From 2-1 to 3-1 we played better than Germany. That’s not my imagination – I saw the game.”

There may be an element of truth in Capello’s comments but even so England cannot look back on this World Cup with pride. They may yet, however, look back on it as the end of an era.