Last Wednesday night England's very own Roman emperor and general, Mr.Fabio Capello led our national football team into battle. The outcome was another woeful, hapless and altogether thoroughly embarrassing performance, which ended inevitably in defeat.
What makes the 2-1 'friendly' defeat even more galling is that the opposition were France, who less than six months ago were in total disarray themselves, as disharmony on and off the park at the World Cup led to an unprecedented and almost catastrophic collapse within the ranks of the French Football Federation.
At the tournament last summer, Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka reportedly clashed with Raymond Domenech at half-time during their second group game against Mexico, and was sent home from the World Cup for 'verbally abusing' his coach.
The rest of the France squad refused to train in protest at the decision, and Domenech had to read out a statement from them explaining their actions.
The FFF managing director Jean-Louis Valentin resigned in disgust, and even French President Nicolas Sarkozy was called upon in an attempt to defuse the situation!
In the end France were eliminated for failing to deliver on the pitch, and were thus eliminated at the group stage of the tournament, with Domenech refusing to shake the hand of South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Parreira after the final group game.
Domenech 'stood down' as France coach after the tournament and former Manchester United defender Laurent Blanc replaced Domenech in July.
The World Cup controversies subsequently forced FFF president Jean-Pierre Escalettes to resign, while head of state Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to personally lead an investigation.
It doesn't end there either, as Domenech is now currently seeking £2.5m in severance pay, claiming he was made a 'scapegoat' for his team's poor World Cup performance.
The trauma following such a dramatic chain of events, you would understandably think might take a football nation quite a while to overcome.
On the contrary in fact - Blanc has adapted incredibly well, and his side sit top of their Euro 2012 qualifying group after four games.
After 90 minutes at Wembley this week, in which England's players were outfought, outthought and outplayed so comprehensively by their French opponents, here is an interesting statistic worth noting in terms of the resources available to both nations - ' There are currently 41 French professionals playing football in England right now, and not one Englishmen playing in France.'
The reaction of the England football team to its failure at the World Cup could not be more different to that of our counterparts across the English Channel.
We continue to deliver abject sub-standard performances, while France, once the phoenix consumed by flames, has risen again from the ashes..........and in quick fire time!
How and why is this the case?
A new manager.............enough said!
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