I really do think these were the best English players who were ever sent to the World Cup Finals. When all is said and done, it is indeed a team game, so what others say about them failing to work as a team has to be right. I also agree with previous posters that no outstanding team emerged and that there were few outstanding games.
I was disappointed that England never found their rhythm and confidence. I had also hoped that for once they might have an unfair advantage. Had the weather been like last year's, there may have been one or two wet pitches and the temperatures would have been more to their liking. It did not happen.
They actually looked better once they had lost the ball. For me, that hints at defensiveness. All the teams tended to pass the ball sideways rather than forwards. However, I would have liked England to take some risks and play offensively. They had extraordinary luck in that none of their first choice defenders or midfielders were ruled out by injury. That has never happened before. They also took two World class strikers with them. It was in that department their luck ran out. They never had two first choice strikers fit at the same time. In view of the fact that only Brazil have a God given right to have two World class strikers at any one time, that is not really a good enough excuse. There can be little doubt though that they were forced to change their game plan several times.
At the end of the day, the Germans performed far better. Only their goalkeeper, I think, would have made it into the England side. That is the light at the end of the tunnel really. England can never hope to have that many exceptional players again at one time, but they can hope to function much better as a team. I think that when Steve McClaren is gone and we have a genuine international manager, who can show two fingers to the FA, we will have as much chance of putting out a decent team as anyone. It is a shame we failed so badly this time around though, because it was there for the taking.