With the international break here and the 'real' football put on hold for the moment, it's time to once again turn our not so enthusiastic attentions to the national team. And why aren't we so enthused with the possibility of watching the Three Lions? Well, let's just say they have form when it comes to getting our hopes up before ripping our hearts out come summertime.
England, the perennial underachievers, masters of qualifying, woeful in tournaments. It might sound harsh, but the fact is that this England team and its predecessors have had their fair share of bad days at the sunlit office otherwise known as tournament football.
You'll have to go back to 1996 for our last foray into semi-final territory in the Euros and 1990 in the World Cup. In fact, those two tournaments are the only occasions that the England team made it into the semis besides 1966. It's safe to say that we've never really looked like becoming the world beaters our beloved press would have us believe we are.
© SilverHub
Yes, we have incredible footballers and the best league in the world, so why aren't we any good when it comes to summertime footy? Is it the heat, the pressure, or are we just not that good?
Quite possibly it's all three, but another theory is that much of our recent footballing history could just be down to dumb luck. From goals that never were to penalty shootout misery, there's a strong argument that when it comes to tournament football, England are due a helping hand or two from Lady Luck.
It's not as if we're from a country that is historically poor at sporting events. The UK is actually the luckiest country in the world when it comes to winning things at sport. In fact, if you're from any of the home nations you're more likely to win a sporting tournament than anyone else on the planet! So aside from Wales's superb Euro 2016 performance, why are the UK's national teams and England in particular so woeful in tournaments?
Of course, the fact that our overzealous press pours metric tons of pressure onto the shoulders of our youngest players isn't helping. Nor is the fact that the ex-player pundit brigade have all seemingly become masters of the international game. But let's not focus too much on the why, and instead wonder when.
When will England's luck turn?
If Gazza's miss against Germany had gone in, we could well have won that tournament on home soil. If Lampard's goal versus Germany stood, the game could have turned in England's favour. The occasions the national side have been on the wrong side of luck are innumerable, so the time is ripe for a bit of tournament-based good fortune.
So instead of getting all fired up and beat our chests over a win in some meaningless friendly or even (fingers crossed) a magnificent qualifying campaign, let's hope and pray that the omens are good for June 2018 and that the fickle mistress that is Lady Luck returns to our side once again.
She deserted us after Geoff Hurst's goal against Germany and seemingly took sides against us with vigour in the decades since. Could it be that as a nation we have upset the footballing Gods? Would a sacrifice of some sort appease them? Perhaps a ritual burning of the away kit for Euro 2016 would suffice?
Whatever it takes, let's hope it's done because as a footballing nation, it's about time our luck turned. They say fortune favours the brave, but we're not buying that, fortune favours the lucky so do your rain dances, knock on wood, and don your lucky underpants because, in all fairness, we've tried everything else.
