Thomas Mueller-ed

England's World Cup hopes and dreams are over for another four years after being utterly hammered by Germany.

The earliest exit from a World Cup since 1998 is far less than England would have targeted from this campaign - but it is impossible to argue that they have been worthy of anything more.

Taking this game in isolation, England were a shambles at the back. The centre-back pairing, mauled by Alan Hansen on the BBC at both half time and full time, seemed to be frightened of not only the German attackers but also each other, so far apart were they at all the crucial times.

Gareth Barry, touted as a crucial part of England's chances prior to the tournament, was inept. A complete and utter inability to provide any defensive cover, to limit the impact of Mesut Ozil and Bastian Schweinsteiger, further compounded the disastrous performances of our centre backs. Barry allowed Mueller to roam forward 20 yards unchallenged to create the first chance for Ozil, lost the ball weakly for the first breakaway goal and was then utterly humiliated by the roasting that Ozil gave him, even with a 5 yard deficit.

The lack of pace and apparent sluggishness so painfully obvious in the fourth goal was a disease throughout the team. Everyone seemed to be running through treacle; they played without any zip, urgency, dynamism or desperation and somehow never seemed to be running very fast at all. Compared to the youthful Germans, and especially both sides in the engaging Mexico Argentina clash, England seemed to be playing at 70% pace at most. It was like the switch from the fluid and exciting Pro Evo 4 to the prosaic and boring Pro 5.

One of the biggest culprits of this Pro 5 disease is the biggest failure and let-down of the entire tournament: Wayne Rooney.

If Rooney is injured, he should have spoken up long before it got to this. Throughout the tournament his touch has been awful, his movement sluggish and his threat non-existent. Ordinarily, the game today would have seen Rooney crashing into defenders and very possibly getting himself sent off, if only out of sheer frustration that it was not going right. He could not even muster up the energy to foul people, let alone create any problems for the German defence.

For many of the players so conspicuous in their absence today, this may be the last time they ever represent England in a World Cup. How could they allow this to occur with such a lethargic, limp and insipid performance - surely as players they learn from past tournaments; but on this years evidence they have improved on nothing and still have a crippling phobia on the biggest stage of all.

All in all this was a bitterly disappointing defeat for England - but it is nothing more than they deserved. Euro 2008 occurred without England - it is arguable that World Cup 2010 did as well.

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The above gives no mention to Lampard's disallowed goal immediately after Upson's header got England back into the game. This is very deliberate. Anyone who believes this is the reason that England were defeated is deluding themselves - for 5 minutes England showed the necessary fight, pace and movement to get back into the game, but in terms of performance they were so far off Germany they were never really in with a chance.

The goal questions again the farcical FIFA stance to continue to rule out adopting goal-line technology. John Motson presented his case opposing technology in that it opens up a whole debate around which decisions can be reviewed, it breaks up the game etc. For video replays this is a valid concern. For goal-line tehcnology it is not.

By the start of the next Premier League season they could introduce the relatively simple measures to confirm when a ball has so clearly crossed the line as it did today. Of course it won't reach further down the league pyramid, but there are not millions of pounds at stake in non-league football.

It is a joke that this can happen - but England should not dare to hide behind it as an excuse.