Passion play

Following England’s dismal world cup defeat to Germany on Sunday, the nation’s football pundits struck up a familiar refrain: our boys lacked passion.

Following England’s dismal world cup defeat to Germany on Sunday, the nation’s football pundits struck up a familiar refrain: our boys lacked passion. This is something of an English obsession: players win because they play with pride; they lose when they don’t show enough commitment. Talent is for foreigners, the English are meant to play with heart.

But passion is overrated; too often just code for a lack of discipline. Time and time again, the most ‘passionate’ players let their country down. On Sunday, the England players most often commended for their fighting spirit, Wayne Rooney and John Terry, were the team’s worst performers. They ran around the pitch screaming at their teammates and the referees, but failed to do anything useful with the ball. In their determination to appear passionate in front of the cameras, they failed to concentrate on the game. It’s convenient for us to accept the lie that all our boys need is chutzpah — the truth is crueller: English football needs less passion and more skill. The trouble with the team was not that they didn’t care, just that they weren’t good enough.