---
title: "Enland Uninspired: Best Player/Team of the Tournament?"
date: 2006-06-12T23:44:37Z
modified: 2006-06-12T23:44:37Z
permalink: "https://redmonk.com/jgovernor/enland-uninspired-best-playerteam-of-the-tournament/"
type: post
status: publish
excerpt: ""
wpid: 624
categories:
  - Uncategorized
timestamp: 2006-06-12T23:44:37Z
tags:
  - Uncategorized
---

Watching the team England perform so poorly in our laboured defeat of Paraguay on Saturday put me in mind of the country as a whole, where an awful lot of outstanding, creative people perform poorly by working for limited managers. At the top all that passes around is the buck.

Why does the England team always perform so poorly in the second half of a game, particularly it has performed creditably in the first 45 minutes? Does Sven slip a few [rufies](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rufies) into the half-time tea?

Coach Sven Goran Ericcson strikes me as a triumph of style over substance. The players seem to like him, but perhaps a little too much.

> Game of the Tournament so Far: _Argentina vs Ivory Coast_
> 
> Player of the Tournament so Far: _Aryan Robben, Holland_

What do you think?