World Cup Fever part 5

I wasn't too disappointed that England lost 4-1 to Germany because I had expected that England would at best, draw or at worst, lose to the Germans maybe by a goal or 2 goals worse come to worst. But i hadn't expected England to be so badly beaten. For the record, the final tally should have read Germany 4, England 2 - Frank Lampard's goal post hitter went right across that white goal post line and it IS a goal. The linesman and referee can both kiss my yellow ass for not seeing the obvious. Anyway, England's world cup hopes once again relegated to the rubbish bin of history. Let's hope that they start preparing NOW for the next world cup which is in 4 years' time and should be time plenty for them to assemble a decent national squad.

Which begs the question: England's decline as a footballing nation and in other fields of sports/non-sporting endeavour - is it irreversible?
When i was a student in England, my international friends, notably the French and German, spoke about how England, unlike Germany, was shackled by its historical ties. By virtue of its colonial past, the 19th century industrial revolution, etc England was mired in ways that Germany was not. England's infrastructure, like its national football squad today, was old and tired. Germany's was young and re-built out of the ashes of the second world war. England was obligated to care for its former colonies, Germany had almost no colonies save for a thumb-sized plot somewhere in central/southern Africa. England had a LOT of traditions (the Queen/King, the aristocracy, the old conventions) to live up to, less so Germany. England was caught up in its past, Germany was only too willing to forget its past or wish that parts of its past never happened. Would England, "the land of the setting sun" as some Japanese commentators put it, ever regain its former glory and retake its place as the world leader in sports, industry, science and the arts? Probably not.