Football Food For Thought / Tareq Quiroz / 12 September 2008 /

Tareq Quiroz admits to not feeling the same emotional attachment to the England team as that of yesteryear, amid concerns that Aston Villa's players return home fit and suspects he's not alone in picking club over country.

So, the World Cup Qualifiers have started in earnest. The now familar back-to-back games give everyone an opportunity to follow their country in their quest for world glory. Of course, unlike club football you don't have the benefit of being able to pick and choose the team you support. You can though make a thorough check on your ancestry to find that long lost Brazlian relative that gives you the right to wear the yellow shirt with pride.

It begs the question that if we all enjoy watching teams like Brazil so much why don't we just ditch our national loyalties and support whoever we like? After all, the trend to support your local club side is nowhere near as prevalent as it once was.

How many youngsters with football league sides close to their home have no intention of supporting them when they can follow a big side that may be hundreds of miles away. I cant see why it should be any different for the International side of the game. At least if you follow Brazil you have an excellent chance of success, as illustrated by their position as market leaders in the Outright Winner market at current odds of [6.2].

An abject performance against Andorra left all England fans with a feeling of unease as the hugely talented bunch of players made their way to Zagreb. For once their fears were soon to be allayed as Fabulous Fabio got his players to put in an excellent performance that surely sent shockwaves through the world of football. "Trio" Walcott put his name in lights and at the same time heaped a whole load of pressure on himself with his well taken hat-trick.

Prior to the Croatia fixture the news filtering out of Wembley was that they were struggling to sell out the home game against Kazakhstan. Is this a sign that the International game is on the wane? I got the distinct impression that a lot of England fans really enjoyed Euro 2008 without the pressure of having to following a team that so often disappoints.

Everyone got to pick their team to follow and even if they bowed out early you didnt have to drown your sorrows. Fortunately Spain were a very popular neutral selection so everyone's a winner. With that squad of players they will fancy they can repeat the feat in South Africa and are currently available at [9.8] in the outright Winner market.

If everyone enjoyed the Euro 2008 tournament so much then why dont we just admit what many fans really feel and that their chosen clubs mean much more to them than the National side. I watched the England with a group of friends and was not surprised to see the Spurs fan wanting Modric to shine and the Arsenal fan over the moon, not at England's win but by Walcott's performance. We are in changing times and I am sure that support for the National side is dwindling. As a fan I am more concerned about how my club side's players return from the International break than the result itself. And I don't think I am on my own with that.

Sure, when the time arrives all English fans will be hoping that England make it to the World Cup finals. I wil be the first down the store to purchase some necessary bunting and various items of World Cup merchandise if England do make it but I will also be making plans for a back-up team should things go wrong.

Euro 2008 was a real eye opener for me and showed me just how much you can enjoy an International tournament without the stresses of having to worry about how each individual match can affect Englands possible route to glory. With the 4-1 thumping of Croatia fresh in my mind it looks distinctly like the summer of 2010 is going to be full of plenty of stress and with just a glimmer of hope of at least some elation. The market says that an England win isn't a total pipe dream and at fourth favourites they are currently available at [11.5].

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