but not the World Cups and Euros.
If I no longer care about England, why did I get so upset?
After England lost 2-1 to Iceland, I was angry with myself.
I’d backed England to lose, a very unpatriotic thing to do.
Never did that before, will never do it again, in any circumstances.
I knew we could not beat Iceland
But I didn’t think we would be outplayed, battered, thrashed and humiliated.
It looked like the clueless Roy Hodgson had a big falling out with Gary Neville, who was sitting near the manager when the matches started, then became invisible, banished, a pariah.
Our players looked lost and had zero belief.
Since we don’t have a Bale or a Lewandwowski, England need a coherent,solid method of play and we never really saw that in 2014 or 2016.
We only saw a few bright moments from individuals, without any impressive teamwork.
And as we stuttered from game to game this summer, it became obvious that England knew they weren’t a team.
WHAT DO WE HAVE NOW?
We might find out tonight against Spain, who are missing half of their finest players.
Spain, like France and Portugal, is a producer nation.
They all take coaching seriously and understand football, a sport we invented, far better than we will ever do.
Their youth systems produce a huge number of technical footballers, many of whom are talented enough to play for Atletico Madrid, Manchester United, Juventus, Manchester City, Arsenal,Spurs and many other teams in the UK and elsewhere.
Ander Herrera, now 27, could make his debut tonight.
Today we’re told that Jamie Vardy will start, that Nathaniel Clyne will be at right back with West Ham’s Aaron Cresswell at left back, will start.
With Del Bosque having retired, Spain have appointed Julen Lopetegui, a 50-year-old former goalkeeper who became a national youth coach for the Spanish Federation and then managed Porto for 18 months.
Both managers will field experimental teams.
Spain will start with Bilbao’s centre forward Aritz Aduriz, who is in his 36th year but still sparky enough to give John Stones some alarming moments.
Nolito and Vitolo are both useful finishers, as is Juan Mata.
One way or another, tonight could be fun. Kick-off is at 8pm on ITV.