I’ll come clean straight away and declare my financial interest. Bets on both France and Italy each way to win the World Cup placed before the thing began on June 9th, as well as one on Thierry Henry as top scorer. There’s hope. I’m rooting for a France v Italy final with our number 14 banging in a hat-trick in Berlin.

The four quarter finals produced two close contests, some delightful football from Zinedine Zidane and Italy v Ukraine. Although 3-0 looks like a drubbing in the latter, Shevcenko’s side were undoubtedly unlucky in the second half with the woodwork. England are out and frankly good riddance. Never mind the debate about Theo Walcott, the question on my mind after the Portugal game is whether or not a dustbin in an England shirt would have made a more positive contribution to England’s cause than Frank Lampard. Eriksson has never had the bollocks to drop his favoured stars and Lampard would have been on the bench before the Sweden game if a half decent manager had been picking the side.

Overall, despite having as good a collection of players as any of the sides that made the semis, England stank the tournament out with football that rarely rose above the level of the insipid. Where was the creativity? The imagination? The attempt to take on opponents and make a mark. I could handle the exit a lot easier if I thought my countrymen had given it a go. But there was nothing. Just sideways passing, long hopeful punts and a lack of any of the strengths of the English game. The only player to represent this nation’s traditional strengths against Portugal was Owen Hargreaves.

As for Wayne Rooney. You can make all the excuses you like for the boy, but the bottom line is this. You stamp on an opponent’s meat and two veg in clear sight of the referee and you can only expect to see red. The involvement of Cristiano Ronaldo was an irrelevant cameo that has been picked upon by the press in search of a whipping boy, when the real culprits are many and were all on the side of the Three Lions.

In brief – Beckham. Never was captain material. Great crosser. Great free kicks. Motivational ability of a wallflower. Never a leader of men and the manager’s to blame for not immediately electing a decent captain when he got the job. I remember the timing of Eriksson’s announcement that Beckham would lead the team and Tony Adams’ retirement from international football were very close. Adams knew what a ridiculous notion it was then and wanted no part of it.

Chelsea players – Joe Cole put in some half decent displays but both Lampard and Terry were well below their Premiership form. All four semi finalists feature centre back pairings playing above their normal level. Ferdinand did not let himself down but Terry had a poor tournament with lapses of concentration.

The manager. Tactics were wrong. Team selections were wrong. Squad selections were wrong. Everyone knew this as soon as the first two games had been played. But we had to endure three more outings of this crap. Sure the ten man performance against Portugal was something to admire, but what point if the players do not have the belief, the authority, to win a penalty shoot-out in which the opposition misses two of its five regulation kicks. The doubt is the responsibility of the manager. The buck always stops with this highly paid clown.

I’d better not spend this whole editorial going on about England. So, Germany. What the hell was going on at the end of their game? I still cannot get my head around the mass brawl because of one thing. Jens was not involved! It was apparently caused by the taunting of the Argentinian players as the Germans walked up to take their kicks – Jens probably unaware of this at the time. I like the football played by Peckerman’s side, but they have no class. Take defeat like men and retain a bit of dignity. Another example of a manager blowing it for his team. They could easily have won this tournament but for Peckerman’s conservatism. When you have a team on the rack as Germany were, you have to go for the kill. Not replace Riquelme with a defensive midfielder. Madness. Only one goal up, so what do you do if an equaliser comes? Even Sir Alf Ramsey did not get away with this and his England had a 2-0 lead over Germany in 1970.

Frankly though, I do not want to see Germany win this tournament, despite Lehmann. Their football is typically Teutonic, and there is little beauty in it. The only team left with any nod towards the game as most would like to see it played are France and I think most people in this country would probably favour them above any other, although the atmosphere created by the hosts has made many sympathetic towards them.

Two Arsenal players have come out of this tournament with greatly enhanced reputations – Henry was already up there, but Lehmann and Fabregas are players that will continue to win the Gunners key matches in the coming season. Gilberto Silva has also overcome Juventus’ Emerson as a first choice starter for Brazil, although doubtless a different coach will be picking the next team. Others have had mixed tournaments, but no-one has really played a stinker (except maybe Jose Reyes). As for Theo Walcott, he never got the chance. I hope the experience of being a football tourist does not become a burden for the lad. With all bias aside, what the f**k was he doing there taking the squad place of a forward that might have actually got on the pitch? Another classic piece of Sven madness. Goodbye and good riddance.