Ah, another tournament involving England and another fortnight of hope-dashing performances, disciplinary problems, injuries, tactical quandaries and questions about whether the “Golden Generation” (GG) are actually golden. Or whether they’re actually tin with a cheap gold spray that wears off after 180 minutes of exposure to high altitude. Perhaps the nation should have sealed them in envelopes, sent them to Dale Winton and cashed them in, as their worth has dropped on a par with BP’s share prices in the last week-and-a-half.

“This is our year – 44 years of hurt will fizzle out as our boys arrive back victorious,” people keep saying. Some of the more ludicrous followers say that England drew their first game back in 1966, and indeed drew their first two games in 1990, and were still successful so it’s in the stars and we’re certain to reach the semi-finals this year. The Sun even enlisted the memory of Winston Churchill last Friday to inspire the team to victory. But the GG have failed to perform again – despite the pre-tournament rhetoric of how they’ve failed to live up to expectations in the past, but that now their time has come. Perhaps straw clutching should become our national sport.

England haven’t got the the quality in their first eleven, or in reserve, to challenge the top four teams in this competition. Nor have they got the mental strength. The Premier League is one of the best in the world because of the foreign talent, not because of Messrs Lampard, Gerrard, Rooney, Terry and A. Cole, and therefore a decent domestic league doesn’t translate to a decent national squad. Yes, the qualifying campaign was good, but against footballing minnows Andorra, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Ukraine and Croatia were disposed of, as they should have been, and we’re through to the World Cup. I’d have hoped for a good qualifying campaign out of that – it shouldn’t mean we’re semi-final certainties when the real thing arrives. But the nation, with the help of the English media, builds us up as potential winners and anything short of this is deemed a failure. Cue people calling for Fabio Capello to be replaced in the middle of the World Cup and general anger towards the players and management.

Maybe the nation should lower its expectations of the national team succeeding, instead of clinging onto false hope of it being “1966 all over again”. If we beat Slovenia and progress, then awesome. If we go further, then even better. But this team isn’t a Golden Generation and nor is it one of the best in the world. It is players like Messi, Villa, Torres, Alonso, Tevez, Forlan, Van Persie, Podolski that are worth their weight in gold.