Germany’s 4-1 pounding of England exposed serious problems in the national game, and a fatal shortage of what is required in tournament football.

“There is no ‘I’ in team” is a glib phrase but one that resonates somewhat shrilly after Fabio Capello’s side capitulated in their second-round World Cup humiliation at the hands of a largely pubescent Germany side.

This was the team of superstars, winners, experienced campaigners with medals galore that was destined to bring the trophy back to England after 44 years.

But with the gold-plated Bentleys come gold-plated, fragile egos, and it is this - and not any technical deficiency – that is the root cause of England’s problems.

Envy at the successful is human nature, and a particularly pronounced British trait - we love to build them up, knock them down and twist the knife. So it follows that the initial reaction is to point at overpaid rich-kids who don’t share the fans’ pride in the shirt.

But it is not a question of fame or money - Spain, Argentina and tournament favourites Brazil have squads jam-packed with men on £100k+ weekly salaries, holding domestic and continental titles to add to those won with their national teams.

It is, however, a question of what English players do with the money, and what British celebrity culture allows money to bring.

How could a team so dominant and successful in qualifying - remember, England beat Croatia 4-1 away and 5-1 at Wembley - turn into a damp squib of a side incapable of beating the United States (who are pretty good, nothing more) and Algeria (who are rubbish), before greeting a nervy, single-goal win over Slovenia with relief and joy"

From their teens, successful English players are given the cash that is warranted, we are told, by their ability to entertain and generate profit. It’s the free market, capitalism at its purest - although given the fragile financial state of many of our clubs, this model is not without question.

It is near impossible for young players to remain level-headed: unlike most European countries, the United Kingdom’s school leaver’s certificate is taken at the age of 16, not 18. Players abroad are not given first-team contracts until they have completed their education and spent a year or two in the U19 or reserve sides. Cases in hand - Thomas Mueller and Mesut Ozil. All ze Germans in fact.

Anyone with any knowledge of teenagers will appreciate the jump in maturity taken by young men in their late teens, and as it stands we are giving boys with little sense of responsibility tens of thousands of pounds a week for a half-day shift that is, in real terms, a lot of fun.

We have also developed - more than any other Western European nation - a culture that fosters ostentatious displays of wealth among people who either have little money or have recently acquired some: ‘bling’ is the much-touted term.

Then you throw in our frankly ludicrous, over- the-top-celebrity culture that fawns over the untalented for their twice-removed associations with the partially-talented, who associate with the mildly-talented to boost their own profiles.

Basically, most young English players think they are awesome. In reality, they often they are nothing more than decent.Which is the case the world over - only a gifted few can call themselves genuinely brilliant.English players have what (and who) they want, when they want. And we’re not even talking about the superstars…

The result is twofold.

The so-called ‘big’ players, representing their country on their days-off from top-level club football, who can just about handle a week of dry, continental focus in qualifiers but in the mid-term go stir-crazy when deprived of their VIP champers, souped-up motors and Playstation shoot-em-ups.

Spoilt, cosseted rich-kids who work well within a club set-up - where they can hide behind team-mates from Ghana, Spain, Argentina and Brazil and act as ‘local’ heroes to their fans - but who freak out when the buck stops with them. You know them as ‘the England team’.

The dozens of prospects who somehow regress in their twenties, failing to step up or believing their own hype, drifting into semi-obscurity as squad players or falling down the divisions. Players like Lee Bowyer, Jonathan Woodgate, Joey Barton, Nigel Reo-Coker, probably Micah Richards…The endless list of players who achieve at U21 level, scotching the theory that our players lack ability, but fail to grow into men until it is frankly too late.

It is fashionable to point at the number of foreign players plying their trade in the Premier League as being a factor for the malaise, but there is a similar proportion of non-Germans in the Bundesliga, while the lower percentage in Spain is a fudge from the number of Latin American players with Spanish passports.

It is all about attitude, mental strength and aptitude for tournament football. What makes a top club player does not necessarily make a top international player.

John Terry is constantly pushed forward as the only natural England captain - but why" Because he's a great leader for Chelsea" His club pay his wages - it is in his financial interest to be the alpha dog at Stamford Bridge.

Technically, his lack of pace is compensated for by his club team-mates Ricardo Carvalho and Alex: without Rio Ferdinand, England lack a quick centre-half, meaning Terry will be exposed time and time again.

Furthermore, winning tournaments is as much about team spirit and organisation as it is about technical ability. Having a man in the squad who reportedly sleeps with team-mates’ exes is not the best way to foster a close-knit gang mentality.

Wayne Rooney is a great club player because club seasons are dragged out over nine months and 50 plus games. He can smash them in against Hull, or even Milan, but when the pressure is on he has almost always crumbled, either by getting himself sent off, picking up an injury or - in this case - not even looking bothered.

There is also a question mark over his ego, his apparently recently-acquired belief that he is the 'man' and that his failings are simply the fault of those around him.

I could go on. But what is clear is that someone has to act.

Fabio Capello is undoubtedly a fine coach, one of the best in history. It is unfair to say he is solely at fault for England’s abject performance at this World Cup - he looks as confused as anyone when trying to translate their excellent form in qualifying to the shambolic display in South Africa.

But his style of management - meticulous preparation, dry unbending focus and the absence of distractions - does not wash with the so-called 'golden generation' of entitled but half-educated boy-men whose concentration spans are so limited that a week without a pint and a page three 'stunna' renders them hopeless.

There are two options

The first is to accept that Capello is one of the best in the business but that our 'best' have let him - and us - down. He may be stubborn and aggressive, but it has worked everywhere else and there is no reason it cannot work here - as long as he revolutionalises England’s selection policy, to exclude the spoilt, the unpatriotic, the mentally fragile.

Psychometric testing, perhaps.

He must build a team of young, developing players who will gain confidence from U21 success and grow into a squad united by a common goal, moulded by the master in his image.

He needs to change the yardstick of success and ability in English football and to convert its success at junior level to the senior international stage. To cut adrift the old guard, force Rooney to earn his place in the squad and build a team around the likes of Joe Hart, Jack Rodwell, Adam Johnson and Jack Wilshere, a team of intelligent, focused, mobile players with good technique and modest automobiles.

The second is to accept that, as a footballing nation, we are effectively a bunch of morons and give the job to someone who can manage the egos and maybe take them to the quarters. Someone who can be the players’ boss, dad and mate, someone they like and not fear.

Unfortunately Harry Redknapp wised up several years ago - he now prefers foreign players.

Reda Maher / Eurosport