We Are Illiterate in the language we invented

Well done Spain! Any team that goes through the competition unbeaten whilst playing the style of football they have played over the past month deserves to take the trophy home - what a pity it means that England are pushed to last on the list of when the major footballing countries last won something.


What Spain showed in the semi-final and final is that they have the players that can adapt to system the coach chooses. You can go two ways with choosing a team and tactics, you choose the players and then the system or you choose the system and pick the players. Spain went for the second option, playing a system that Torres plays under a Spanish coach at Liverpool and it worked. The only person in the side who didn't play his normal club role was Cesc who usually takes the ball off the back four, in the Spanish set-up he played more of a Wayne Rooney role.

When David Villa was injured against Russia and Cesc Fabregas came on and they didn't change from a 4-4-1 system, Fabregas just took over as a link role between Torres and the midfield whilst the system allowed Xavi, Iniesta and Senna the opportunity to move forward knowing that they would have a player covering for them, it was brilliant to watch. It seemed a shame that as in 2002 World Cup Michael Ballack would be most people's player of the tournament and go home again with a runners-up medal, I was glad that Xavi won the U.E.F.A player of the tournament award as I think he has been vastly underrated by non-Spanish fans for too long.


England's absence has given us all the time to take stock of where we are in international terms and the result of the deliberating is that we have lost ground on the leading teams, we are still behind Italy, Germany and don't forget we were outclassed by the poorest French side to turn up for an international competition since Trafalgar just a few months ago. To those three you can now add Spain, Turkey and Croatia - three teams who showed speed of thought and movement alien to our players at international level. For a long time certain ex-players, Ian Wright being the most vocal, have been saying that if we play international football at Premiership pace nobody could touch us. I can't believe that anybody can still believe that after seeing Holland's goals against Italy and France, Spain against Russia in both matches, Turkey against anybody in the last five minutes of a game, Portugal against the Czech Republic and Germany against Portugal - goals scored at lightning pace with moves from back to front - showing that all good times can slow any game down, absorb pressure and counter attack. Perhaps Fabio Capello knows which system is best for England and he will pick the best player for that role rather, as England managers have done since Glenn Hoddle, try and shoe horn in players who don't compliment each other and don't help the team function as a proper unit.

So, we have plummeted down FIFA's rankings whilst Spain have taken over top spot for the first time ever - good for them.

BTW - the Indian actress is there so that if you aren't a footie fan you can gaze at somebody else's navel.