Fans in a London pub quickly lost faith while David Cameron and Angela Merkel politely watched the second half together
IT WAS over long before it was over. Midway through the second half in the England/Germany match, the crowd gathered in the Belgravia pub in Ebury Street in London had already lost faith, drifting back to their drinks and friends.
Once more the nation had put its faith in its footballers, although filled with more doubt this time than ever before.
Once more, however, the hopes were not realised.
A small knot of supporters, with the amused toleration of others in the pub, had attempted to keep up traditional chants, such “Ten German Bombers. The RAF of England shot them down,” and “We Won The War”, although even they lost hope as the game progressed, leading them to shift the target for their vocal attack from Germany to the IRA: “No Surrender, No Surrender to the IRA.”
Central London streets began to empty as the minutes ran to three o’clock, but the mood from the beginning was nervous, although an early save by David James settled some.
Within 20 minutes, however, Miroslav Klose’s strike, following an appalling defensive mistake, was greeted with total silence: no shouts, no groans, just silence. Germany’s second little more than 10 minutes later met a similar reception.
Matthew Upson’s goal restored hopes, but even then the lack of belief of the supporters in manager Fabio Capello’s men was visible.
The referee and umpire were abused royally following the decision to disallow Frank Lampard’s strike, which had clearly passed over the line, although even the hope of being a cheated loser failed to endure as the Germans scored twice more.
What abuse there was went to Wayne Rooney for his lacklustre display and to John Terry, who failed to back up strong words in his dealings with the press with a similar performance on the pitch.
“Rooney has to be worst person on the pitch,” said one disconsolate fan to an American tourist, who was energetically providing moment-by-moment analysis of the “soccer”.
“Well, there’s some consolation here. Ozil and Schweinsteiger are coming to Chelsea, but apart from that . . .” one said.
Like others, he turned away from Alan Shearer and Alan Hansen’s post-match analysis. “We have had enough pain for one today,” he said.
In Toronto, the game offered an opportunity for some bonding between British prime minister David Cameron and German chancellor Angela Merkel, who watched the second half together.
Merkel headed off the possibility of a diplomatic spat by apologising immediately for the improperly disallowed goal.
“Sorry about that,” she told Cameron, although she will enjoy a political bounce if Germans are distracted for another few weeks by the hunt for World Cup glory.
Cameron could have done with something similar, given the fury that will be unleashed once spending cuts start to bite.
“The country will wonder ‘what if?’ after Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal, but it was a disappointing result,” he said, in a post-match comment.
Meanwhile, mayor of London Boris Johnson can congratulate himself for not bowing to demands to put up giant TV screens in Trafalgar Square.