I still think that they lost the moment they decided that SWP was better than Walcott and Johnson. In all honesty, England, while being one of the top teams in the world, still got beaten 2-0 at the height of even Rooney's showings in England colours. But put that aside and they haven't proved themselves yet. They haven't played the best teams in the world. In 2009, they beat Belarus, Croatia, Slovenia, Andorra, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Slovakia. They couldn't beat Holland, Spain, Ukraine (second game) or Brazil. The last time they beat a top team was Germany (2-1) in 2008. Mexico was a good result - 3-1 - but even then, not an established powerhouse in the world. Until they can beat Germany, France (yes, they lost to them in their last game, too), Argentina, Spain, Italy, Portugal et al on a regular basis, they won't be winning World Cups. They're definitely a good side in that you will expect them to qualify for the knockout stage. But they aren't to the point that you would put money on them winning (unless you read English newspapers/sites and don't gamble often, in which case, I'm sorry for your loss ).

Why don't they win? To me that doesn't matter, but I don't think it's about the Premier League, personally, I think it's about the decisions of the manager not to pick, motivate and play the correct team. That, and the quality of players. Fabregas is not sitting on the bench like he is for Spain. Nor is Aguero like he is for Argentina. But one would question why Heskey is brought on when they want to score goals. I don't know. Basically I just don't think England are good enough and I don't believe they really get the "do or die" mentality that they have for their clubs.

It might not help being booed by your fans when they should be trying to lift you, nor having the media swamp you and slam you at every opportunity, either, but that's England.