JEREMY CROSS COLUMN: International breaks should be banned, Jose Mourinho got off lightly

THIS week we head into another international break, when the excitement and intensity of club football gives way to the dour and depressing stuff served up by England.

By Jeremy Cross, Chief Sports Writer                                 

England boss Gareth Southgate leads his side against Gordon Strachan's Scotland at Wembley

How about we forget international breaks and just take a break from this form of the game full stop.

What is the point of the England football team? I’ve been puzzling over it for a while, but cannot provide a genuine answer.

Getting picked for England used to be the ultimate honour. It meant the world to those privileged few and this reflected in their attitude towards achieving success.

For the likes of Sir Bobby Moore, Sir Bobby Charlton and Sir Geoff Hurst it provided them with the platform to claim the ultimate prize and change their lives forever.

But times have changed - and not for the better.

With the odd exception, like Italia 90 and Euro 96, all England have done is turn faithful supporters into a bunch of masochists.

For the record the official definition of masochism is, ‘a person who is gratified by pain and degradation, that is self-imposed or imposed by others’.

‘Others’, of course, being, the current members of the national team, who have doled out nothing but pain for two decades now.

England games should be the highlight of a season, but they have become the opposite - lowlights full of let downs, laborious football and predictable outcomes.

We all know what will happen. England will secure qualification for Russia 2018, probably with Gareth Southgate becoming the permanent manager in the process.

Then we will go to Russia and make a mess of things once again, Southgate will get sacked and the wheel of woe will have turned full circle once again.

Manchester United star Wayne Rooney was dropped by England boss Gareth Southgate

What purpose does this whole process serve? Like the US Presidential election, you know it’s going to end badly one way or another.

There was nothing honourable about how England crashed out of Euro 2016 to Iceland this summer, forcing Roy Hodgson to quit in shame minutes after that fateful game in Nice.

So much for honour. There was nothing honourable about how his successor Sam Allardyce lasted less time in charge than those Chilean miners who got trapped underground in 2010.

Players drift through the years collecting caps, but there is no evidence to suggest that turning out for the Three Lions is anything more than a self-centred exercise in boosting their egos, profile and chances of landing lucrative sponsorship deals.

Deep down, the crux of the problem is that England players don’t believe they are good enough to win a major tournament.

You can’t blame them either, because they aren’t. Unlike the rugby, cricket and even hockey teams, there is no prospect of winning a major trophy.

How many of the current squad would get in a current World XI? None. How many would get in a World second XI? None.

Wayne Rooney might be our most capped outfield player and record goalscorer, but he won’t look back on his international career with great fondness because it is a catalogue of failures at major tournaments.

His personal achievements are his to cherish and should be applauded, but being with England is ultimately about the team and it’s success. Or lack of it in this case.

England will take on Scotland on Friday. There will be all the chest-thumping nonsense and passion this old rivalry creates, then the game will kick-off and we will learn absolutely nothing about two sides going nowhere and treading in treacle at this level.

International football involving nations like these has been left behind by the Premier League and Champions League.

The vicious circle of the failing Three Lions will keep going round and round though, ruining the reputation of players, managers and believers along the way.

           

   

IT has taken months for a coroner to confirm what we all knew - that no one was to blame for the death of Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes.

Hughes died from a brain haemorrhage, two days after being hit on the neck while playing for South Australia in a first-class match in Sydney.

Those who think it was anything more than a tragic accident need to move on.

Test cricket is a tough sport. Former stars like the late Brian Close had to face the fearsome West Indies pace attack without even wearing a helmet in the 60s and 70s.

Hughes had all the required protection on and just happened to become the victim of a freak situation.

Fast, short-pitched bowling is what makes this form of cricket so exciting, along with sledging. Take this from the game and it won’t be worth watching.

Man United boss Jose Mourinho watched the Premier League win at Swansea from the stands

WHEN will the FA get a grip and dish out punishments that mean something?

Jose Mourinho was fined last week for breaching FA rules regarding managers discussing referees before and after games.

Mourinho has to shell out £50,000, but so what? He’ll have it in loose change under his bed.

Fining a multi-millionaire is no deterrent. As Mourinho has proved, because he’s a serial offender and shows no signs of changing.

Ban him from Old Trafford for three games though and he might think twice about his behaviour in the future and the consequences of it.

ANDY MURRAY’S remarkable rise to the top of the world tennis rankings is right up there with all the other achievements in his career.

Several weeks ago this column questioned Murray’s attitude and mental toughness following his shambolic exit from the US Open thanks to the mother of all meltdowns.

But he has shown incredible fortitude to catch Novak Djokovic and become world No.1 for the first time at the age of 29.

Murray, who has reached 11 finals in his past 12 events and won 73 matches in 2016, will be officially confirmed as world number one when the revised rankings are released today.

It is an incredible feat by Murray, who yesterday won the Paris Masters, considering the era of tennis he has played in - and one that should now confirm him as BBC Sports Personality of the Year for a third time.