Have the Media Spoiled England’s World Cup Hopes?

Last year, England were considered one of the favourites to win the World Cup. Buoyed by an exemplary qualifying campaign – winning nine of 10 fixtures on the road to South Africa – England’s chances were gifted another boost when the side was drawn against Slovenia , Algeria and the USA in Group C.

But now, despite last night’s victory over Egypt , the nation’s World Cup hopes are in complete disarray.

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock for the best part of 2010, you’ll have noticed that John Terry‘s extra-curricular activities have been plastered all over the front pages. In the fallout, Terry has lost the prized England captaincy and Wayne Bridge has withdrawn from the squad, even though he was pretty much guaranteed a starting spot now that Ashley Cole is out for the season. As it is, Fabio Capello is now forced to field a second-choice captain (maybe even third-choice, if Rio Ferdinand doesn’t recover sufficiently) and an inexperienced left-back for England ‘s assault this summer. What’s more Terry’s form has been terrible in the wake of his scandal.

England ’s chances have never looked worse. But how much of the blame should the media shoulder?  I don’t think there are many people out there who would condone John Terry‘s actions, especially in light of his role as captain of a nation and the responsibilities that accompany this highest of football honours. But ignorance is bliss. Up until the revelations broke out in the press, Terry was approaching the form of his life, England ‘s hopes were sky high and everything looked rosie.

We can’t expect too much national pride from our media – especially when capitalism is at stake. The tabloids are in the business of peddling scandal – nothing sells better. It’s also true that several organizations deliberately sought to bring down the England captain by exposing sordid details about his private life. (Why else would they be camped outside his lover’s house, with a telephoto lens trained on his Bentley?) And like it or not, the emergence of those stories into the public realm created an incredible amount of pressure that’s directly affected the team’s plans.

But before you go throwing rocks at the editors of The Sun and the News of the World, contemplate this: the last time a serious off-the-pitch scandal threatened to undermine England ‘s chances on the big stage was right before Euro ’96, following the squad’s flirtation in Hong Kong with a dentist chair and a crate of spirits. After getting slagged off in the press, the team went within a penalty shoot-out of reaching its first major final since 1966. Maybe, just maybe, the Terry-Bridge affair will galvanize the national side once more.

The story that spoiled England's World Cup hopes?