England’s pampered multi-millionaires are doing friendlies to death while USA play as if their honour depends on it

The USA beat Holland 4-3 and world champions Germany 2-1 recently
Americans play for their country with dedication and passion
Meanwhile, English footballers now play for their country as if all that matters is the clubs who fill their bloated pay packets
The dire goalless draw with the Republic of Ireland reflected that
These players owe a debt of national honour to fans who flock to Wembley

Published:
23:19 GMT, 11 June 2015

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Updated:
23:43 GMT, 11 June 2015

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Americans can be boorish at times, a mite full of self-importance at others and literally bloody-minded when demanding the right to carry the guns used for seemingly monthly massacres of their own kids.

Yet whatever anyone else thinks of them, when it comes to playing sport for the USA the Yanks do so with patriotic fervour and a selfless dedication before the flag.

Whereas, no matter how celebrated they are, English footballers now play for their country as if all that matters is the clubs who fill their bloated pay packets.

If we were in need of any reminder that money and fame are ruining the most promising of English football talent it has come this week.

Gary Cahill, Chris Smalling and Jordan Henderson (left to right) hold hands during England’s draw with Ireland

Raheem Sterling failed to break the deadlock during a dreadful game on the Emerald Isle

A team containing such adolescent multi-millionaires as Wayne Rooney, Raheem Sterling, Jack Wilshere, Chris Smalling, Jordan Henderson and Adam Lallana took part last Sunday in what has been described as the most boring England match….ever.

The goalless draw with the Republic of Ireland was so stupefying that the hitherto hostile fans of each country could not summon up the will to abuse each other verbally, let alone the energy for a spot of political head-bashing.

Yet during the past few days the USA have won exciting away matches against two European powerhouses.

A 4-3 thriller in Holland was followed by the 2-1 victory over world champions Germany which was especially sweet for US manager Jurgen Klinsmann over his homeland, which he served so well on the pitch and in the dugout.

The Americans don’t do friendlies. They play every match as if their country’s honour depends on it.

England are doing friendlies to death.

Every game like the one in Dublin adds fuel to the self-interested campaign by Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger and other leading Premier League managers for non-competitive friendlies to be scrapped so that the players are fresh for club duty.

Mix Diskerund wheels away after levelling for the USA in their win against world champions Germany

Diskerud takes in the praise as the USA continue their successful run of friendly fixtures ahead of the Gold Cup

That – be in no doubt whatsoever – would be another plank pulled out from under international football so that the big clubs might assume power over world football.

No matter how grievous the problem with FIFA, the answer is not to give the Premier and Champions Leagues precedence over the World Cup… for the benefit of the fat cats milking Europe’s major club competition.

From Manchester to the Maracana, from Bayern to Buenos Aires, from Jo’burg to Japan and from Chelsea to China, national pride remains the principal driving force behind football.

Do not expect the clubs to tell you that.

The greater disappointment is that the players should give out that damaging indication with performances like those which reduced the white shirt of England to a crumpled rag in Dublin.

The closest we came to a Sunday passion play was with the booing of Sterling by Liverpool supporters.

Yet they jeered him not because he looked like he couldn’t care less about England, but because he and his agent are using every trick in the book to move him to another club.

But while the supporters are suffering, he and his peers are out on the town.

Then there was Wilshere, whose career is going up in smoke, being replaced by Ross Barkley, another with his snout in the trough.

Jack Wilshere has hit the headlines following Arsenal’s FA Cup victory and his future is unclear

Ross Barkley (left) and Wilshere train ahead of England’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Slovenia

They were not alone in their complicity with England’s failure to register more than three shots on target in this feeble attempt to beat Ireland for the first time in 30 years.

Do not even try telling me that the attitude would have been the same somnolent indifference if these young men were earning a thousand pounds a week rather than a hundred grand for each seven days of their pampered lives.

But how foolish they are.

Since money appears to be their god, even more of it is to be had by impressing on the international stage.

An outstanding World Cup can double their money through commercial contracts.

The England team is also a shop window for potential buyers.

But above all, where is the national pride?

That was the question put by Paul Gascoigne in a Sportsmail interview earlier this week.

Gazza’s crie de coeur: ‘F****** hell. Playing for your country should be the greatest feeling in the world.’

Paul Gascoigne laughs as he talks about his England career – but he did not find the friendly so entertaining

Gascoigne hugs Sir Bobby Robson after his swashbuckling England reached the semi-finals in Italia 90

Hopefully England are listening as they move on to Slovenia this Sunday, the next step of their moribund journey towards the 2016 European Championship finals.

The team, as usual, are talking a better game. But do they mean it?

If not, they need to realise that failure to qualify from this pushover group would be regarded as roughly the equivalent of Andy Murray not reaching the main draw at Wimbledon.

So, do friendlies matter? Yes, they do.

Not least when they ring with echoes of the flaccid disappointments of the past, the wretched World Cup retreat from Brazil last summer the latest wounding experience among them.

These players owe a debt of national honour to the fans who keep flocking to Wembley and fanning out across the world – but who may not continue to do so unless their team answer the call to England in the manner befitting.

If they cannot rouse themselves to repay it then the World Cup summer of ’66 – won by men of stout heart who had to run their socks off just to earn an honest living – may forever remain England’s solitary glory.

Meanwhile, even the Yanks are coming.

If any club truly belongs to its people then that club is Newcastle United.

The media are any club’s conduit to its community.

Yet Newcastle owner Mike Ashley restricted reporting access to incoming manager Steve McClaren to TV rights holders Sky, the club website and one national newspaper which is said to be negotiating a preferred partnership deal with United.