England were actually fighting two battles
Lisa Fairbrother June 24th 2014
Despite the hopes of everyone supporting them, England is now officially out of the World Cup. Even though they still have one match left to play against the leaders of Group D, Costa Rica, they have absolutely no chance of qualifying for the next stage. Although this is sad, before the tournament even began, the British press was already pretty sure that England would struggle to make it through the group stage. Why would they be so pessimistic about the chances of a team ranked 10th in the world? Why would they doubt a team that has consistently made it through to the final stage in every single World Cup since 1958?
The answer is simple; the heat. For weeks the British newspapers have been full of reports worrying about the Brazilian climate, which seems to be almost, but not quite, as hot and humid as the Japanese summer. The thing is, Britain is rarely hot. We may have a ‘heat wave’ for a few days a year when the temperature rises above 30 degrees but it’s rarely very humid. In addition, temperatures over 30 degrees are considered to be extreme weather. For example, my school actually had a rule that classes would be cancelled if the temperature rose above 30 degrees. But guess what? Throughout my entire school life, classes were never cancelled, not even once, because the temperature never went above 30 degrees! Now if that wasn’t a bad enough situation for the England team, remember that in the UK, football is a winter sport! The British football season ends well before the start of summer so the best players never get used to playing their best when it’s warm because summer is saved for cricket (a sport very vaguely resembling baseball). So, the England team didn’t have to beat just the other teams in their group, they also had to try to beat the Brazilian heat. In the end this double battle was unfortunately just too much for them.
However, in true British style, the newspapers are already making jokes about England’s elimination from the tournament (see the recyling bin picture above). I doubt the media in other countries will be quite so harsh after their national teams’ defeat.
