England vs. Germany FIFA World Cup 2010: England Slaughtered By Germany. Why?

A heartbreaking day for England and their army of fans.

They simply folded on game day.

A lot of the tactics from Capello were wrong, but the players didn't seem fired up to play. They looked muted and plodding in first gear all day.

Again that's an indictment against Capello for not being able to fire up the team. Honestly no Englishman needs extra coaching motivation to play Germany. Especially when its a knock-out game.

Its all very puzzling.

PUZZLING DEFENSIVE ASSIGNMENTS
For some odd reason - Matthew Upson drew the defensive assignment on Miroslav Klose who is big and physical. That assignment should have gone to John Terry who has the physique to battle and control Klose.

As it turned out, Klose bullied and bossed Upson all day and scored his goal after muscling the smaller Upson out of the way.

Germany for their part - played smart, compact, and incisive passing all day and unlocked England at will.

England just could not handle it.

MIDFIELD OVERRUN
This was where England was supposed to have an advantage.

Lampard was the best of this bunch today when he hit the crossbar twice and worked hard.

Again, Capello puzzlingly stuck Gerrard on the left, where he doesn't normally play for Liverpool. All those tactics worked against Slovenia but the overriding argument is that you should play your best players in their natural positions and Capello has stubbornly refused to do that and has paid the price.

Gareth Barry did keep Mesut Ozil quiet and that was his job. But the rest of Germany's midfield compensated by surging forward as a unit and overran Gareth Barry in his holding defensive position. 

They occupied Barry with Ozil and pulled Barry around - leaving the space in front of the defense open. Germany capitalized on the fact that Gerrard and Lampard are defensively weak and were able to win the midfield battle.

More importantly - Germany executed the counter attack superbly - hitting England on the backfoot and scored twice through Muller that way.

STRIKERS CONTRAST
Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski spearheaded Germany's attack and gave their team the 2-0 cushion in the first half with some sharp finishing.

Another star performer was Thomas Müller - an attacking midfielder who served as the third striker - surging into space to score Germany's final two goals to nail the coffin conclusively.

In contrast - Wayne Rooney was invisible and Jermain Defoe was underserved. His pace could have unlocked the German defense, but he never got enough passes or crosses his way.

SUMMARY
There was so much wrong with England today.

Capello's 4-4-2 formation failed miserably as Germany played a fluid 4-2-3-1 that pulled and stretched England all over the park.

The players did not play with fire and urgency either. They were passive and allowed Germany to boss the game from the kick-off.

The biggest difference in the game is the footballing culture of Germany.

They emphasize passing and movement and play simple, short passes that always looks for the open player. England do not pass the ball as intelligently and prefer to force the ball into tight spaces, play high and long passes, and were left chasing the ball all day.

The footballing intelligence in Germany is much higher and it showed today. The English game is more dramatic and spectacular because they like to make difficult passes and score spectacular goals from tight spaces. Yes Lampard was robbed when his shot was not called for a goal but overall - England was poor and did not deserve to win.

That's hard to say as an England fan but the truth has to be told.

DEEPER FUNDAMENTAL FLAWS
English pundits will now call for Capello's resignation and I would support that.

Other than one good game against Slovenia, Capello's tactics were wrong.

Plain wrong.

He has worked hard as coach but he has fallen short and when that happens - the axe has to fall. There has to be a deeper change in the domestic game as well. There has to be more investment in youth academies and training kids to play with more thought, intelligence and passing technique.

The English game is technically deficient compared to the European game and those deficiencies are magnified at international level. England failed to keep possession and when you can't keep the ball - you can't score.

Contrast that with the way Germany stroked the ball with ease and panache as I predicted. They completely controlled the game and showed England how its done.

COMMERCIAL ASPECTS
The domestic game is also driven by commercialism and as a result of the huge amounts of money from TV and sponsorship - English clubs spend beyond their means and flood the game with foreigners.

Foreign players can be good, but they also take away playing time from young English players. There has to be a balance there.

Germany has strict controls over club ownership, financing, and spending and their clubs do not incur massive debt when buying players. They also spend more of their money in their youth academies - developing their young talent. That was on show - as several of their outstanding Under-21 team dazzled in this World Cup.

END OF THE ROAD
There will be lots of recrimination and anguish in the weeks ahead.

England will almost certainly be looking for Capello's replacement and the top choice - Roy Hodgson may be the hot news in the days ahead - as he is also being headhunted by Liverpool.

The end for England's older players has come.

John Terry, David James, Steven Gerrard, David Beckham, Frank Lampard and Gareth Barry. They may play in the 2012 European Championships but there will be no more World Cup for them in 2014.

They have come to the end of the road in a very disappointing way.