World Cup

The English critics are full of venom and despair as usual.
They won their first game with a pedestrian 1-0 in severe heat. The English commentators went mostly ballistic. When the Dutch did the same the next day, it was a case of "not well played, but good result". That from the most demanding of stylists.
In England they say that the team that plays badly and still wins is the team that wins the league. So surely the same principle applies here? I can only imagine what these old patriots would have made of England's opening game draw with Uruguay back in 1966 :-)
In the last World Cups, England have lost to teams that were clarly better than them. Last time: Brazil. 1998: Argentina. 1990: Germany. This time round, only Brazil is arguably better, and their defence is very suspect. France, Holland and Argentina are in transition. Spain and Italy are real possibilities but I don't know how well they've got their shit together.
So it's amusing to watch the English veering between their magnetic poles of blind optimism and cultured cynicism. Ideally, I want the Dutch to win. England's a second choice, but it's more realistic than my first.