Who was England’s best player in this world cup?

Written by Tom Wakefield Tuesday, 06 July 2010 00:00

England World Cup Blog

It’s been ten days since England’s world cup hopes were ended by a rampant German side, and the inquest into England’s failure at the World Cup has barely just begun. But did anybody in Fabio Capello’s side actually perform and if so, who was the best player in South Africa?

On a whole England were bitterly disappointing. But there were a few positive displays. Despite playing out of position for most of England’s campaign, Steven Gerrard showed glimpses of the impact he can make on any game, most notably his goal against the USA.

But yet he still couldn’t replicate anything close to his club form, or even the success he had for England during the qualifying campaign and this may be one of the reasons England’s World Cup hopes ended so prematurely.

Elsewhere though there were few performances of any real note. England’s other big names, such as John Terry, Frank Lampard and Wayne Rooney all had very ineffective campaigns and did little to suggest they could ever make an impact on international football.

To be fair, Terry’s colleagues in defence, Glen Johnson and Ashley Cole didn’t really put a foot wrong during the tournament, but even then they did nothing special and looked slightly over awed by the prospect of representing England at the World Cup.

This emphasises just how much of a disappointing summer it was for England in South Africa. Out of the players who we see perform week in, week out for their clubs, not one single one of them was able to perform to anywhere near their full potential at the World Cup.

Although Gerrard was probably England’s best player at the World Cup, it’s hardly an accolade to be proud of given the nature of competition the England captain faced, and you can hardly see him bragging about been the best player for England at the World Cup.

Capello now must once again readdress the issue of why players can’t reproduce their club form for their country, because during qualifying for South Africa it appeared like the problem was solved, but once again the inherent problem in English football has come back dash any hopes of success.

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