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Top 10 things we learned watching England 1-4 Germany

So England have once again fallen at the first proper World Cup hurdle, losing 4-1 to Germany. But what - aside from the crashingly obvious - did we learn from the game, asks MirrorFootball's Dan Silver ?

1) We were promised it would be different under Fabio Capello and the richly-reimbursed Italian didn't disappoint: usually we have to wait until the quarter-finals until being hopelessly outplayed and outclassed by the first decent team we meet. This time we were at least put out of our misery a whole week earlier.

2) In the scramble to replace Don Fabio - after all, who wouldn't want the chance to earn £6million-a-week for no discernible end product whatsoever? - maybe we should turn to Franz Beckenbauer. The Kaiser has been roundly derided in this country for his outspoken attacks on English football, but it's all looking rather prescient now, isn't it? Kick and rush? We should be so lucky!

3) Poor Frank Lampard. He's broken plenty of records at Stamford Bridge, and now he's got an international one too: his free-kick against the bar was the midfielder's 37th World Cup shot without scoring - more than any other player since 1966 onwards. The fact that it actually went in is mere insult to a particularly nasty injury indeed.

4) We could dwell on the disallowed 'goal' all day - revenge for '66, proof that Sepp Blatter is criminally insane for his downer on goal-line technology etc etc - but the sad truth of the matter is that England were outplayed and outfought by a younger, better organised and more skillful team.

5) That said... Apparently when the assistant linesman Mauricio Espinosa saw pictures at half-time of the ball clearly being over the line, he was overheard to remark: 'Mein Gott! Ich bin eine dumme Wurst'.

6) England's World Cup actually ended before it started. Or, more specifically, on June 4 when Rio Ferdinand hobbled out of the squad. After John Terry's indifferent season he needed an experienced, reliable head alongside him. Unfortunately he got Ledley King (knacked of knee), Jamie Carragher (bereft of pace) and Matthew Upson (utterly clueless).

7) The most damning indictment of Capello's reign was surely his final two substitutions. With England's supposedly 'golden' first XI misfiring like a cheap Italian motor, he looked at his bench and decided to bring on... Shaun Wright-Phillips and Emile Heskey. Fabio might as well have just thrown a towel and white flag onto the pitch instead.

8) Graham Taylor sounded the call again this morning for the FA to sort out the national centre of excellence, and it's not often we agree with the daft old fool, but for once he's talking sense. Compare and contrast the performances of Neuer, Ozil and Mueller - players who competed in Germany's U-21 European Championship final victory over England last year - with the ramshackle performances of our own youngster like James Milner and Glen Johnson.

9) The excellent Thomas Mueller got the man of the match award, but we think Mister Ozil deserves even more credit. After all, it was only a few years ago that he was knocking about with that irritating sock puppet Flat Eric...

10) At least we can all get behind brave Brit Andy Murray now. And at least when loses in the semis next week, his sport's seamless integration of Hawkeye will ensure he does so due to a lack of his own talent and nerve, rather than the officials'.