Written Word Delivers Quite a Gloomy Forecast

After England tied Sweden, 1-1, on Sunday, it wasn’t surprising that newspapers in London reacted with their usual pessimism.

“Half-hearted, half-fit and halfway home,” the headline in the Guardian newspaper said.

“Play like that and we’re OUT,” the Sun tabloid read.

Fellow tabloid, the Mirror was equally critical of the high hopes attached to the England squad.

“Maybe there should be a government health warning attached to every England squad going to a major tournament,” it wrote.

“The addiction is as great as any drug, although at least with alcohol or tobacco the high does not end halfway through the first taste. But the lows are deep, the pain of withdrawal as bitter and agonizing, and the cost for the thousands who came to Saitama in search of something better, a ridiculous case of wasting money.”

British bookmakers have increased England’s odds to win it all from 10-1 to 16-1.

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Compiled by Jim Barrero