World Cup Brazil 2014 / Weltmeisterschaft Brasilien

[marathondan]

The main reason for the low expectations is the inexperience of the current crop of players. The England squad is the 6th least experienced in Brazil (although France rank 3rd and Netherlands 7th, and they're not doing too badly).

But the super-rich, super-exposed mega-league that you refer is really a hindrance rather than a help. There just aren't enough English players getting enough top-level experience, because of the large numbers of overseas players in the league. It would be fine if there was reciprocal traffic, with lots of English players plying their trade overseas, but that almost never happens. I'm sure a large part of that is the language barrier; most non-English players will have at least basic English, whereas most English people can manage little more than dos cervezas, per favor in more than a couple of tongues.

Quick trivia question (don't google it) - which is the only nation at the 2014 world cup whose entire squad plays club football in their home nation's league?