England, Oh England

He brought Theo Walcott presumably as his trump card, but just when he needed to trump the daylights out of Scolari's fast tiring Portugese side in the World Cup quarters, he sent on a bean pole instead.

Not that I have anything against Peter Crouch.

In fact, I thought Eriksson should have dropped the misfiring Frank Lampard, and fielded Crouch from the start in a classic 4-4-2 formation. Owen Hargreaves would have been the defensive anchor, with Steven Gerrard free to reprise the midfield attacking role he plays for Liverpool on a weekly basis.

In the end, Sven-Goran Eriksson "ambassadorial" management style kept a fading David Beckham in his side, and out of sync Michael Owen in his final 23 for the competition -- when it was obvious that the presence of Aaron Lennon on the right and even Downing on the left afforded the English side more balance and verve.

It would probably have been a better source of ammunition for the towering Crouch, whose presence might have lifted the pressure off the precocious Rooney, who, like Owen, is freshly recovered from a foot injury.

If I could predict whether a player would score a penalty just by looking at him on the television after extra time, I wonder how and why did Eriksson placed Lampard as the first penalty taker, whose miss set the tone for the rest of the English side.

Carragher and more importantly, Gerrard probably wouldn't have missed if Lampard had not. Did you see the grimace on Gerrard's face when Lampard missed?

Alas, England's 5-million pound a year manager could not get down to do what he really should be doing. In the process, shattering the dreams of the Fergie Fledgings and screeching the continental evolution of the English game at the national level.

It continues to baffle me that a national side with players from club sides like Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham cannot reproduce the kind of continental football that top English Premiership sides play week in, week out.

If there's any solace in England's utterly predictable quarter-final ouster, it's the good riddance of Eriksson, who was never the smooth operator when it came to the balls that mattered.

xxx

On another note, if my gut feeling is to be trusted, the final would be between Germany and France. Both these nations would expose the wannabe aspirations of the Italian and Portugese pretenders.

And if there's any sense of retributive justice in the world, I really hope and pray that the 2 foremost diving nations would get kicked out by the 2 nations that has demonstrated great tactical nous and a commitment to playing flowing football.

Cest la'vie.