England's armchair managers, TV pundits, ex-fooballers, jounalists and assorted second-guesser are miserable enough at their home team topping their group and progressing to the quarter final.

I hate to think how miserable they would be - if their team's players were at home watching - like the teams from Sweden, Holland, Mexico, Equador and those that will join them in the next two days, those who did not get out of the group stages and those who did not even qualify for the final stages.

I fear that many critics are now so stuck in this groove - that when the England team actually win the World Cup - this fact will completely escape them. The day after - they will still be writing about the team not performing as good as they could be and this or that player or formation being better. I think some journalists may have even written this already...........

Perhaps it is time to get real? All the best players in the world are in Germany and trying their best to win. None of them are going to lay down and allow any other team to not only beat them - but to be seen to do it with ease and style. Should any team manage to do this - they will deserve some credit, but it is only the result that will really matter and this will only come after both sides have given maximum effort.

At this moment, in the case of Portugal's Big Phil - he is trying to put out 11 players who are not suspended or injured.