Dawn of a new era for England still far away despite Bulgaria triumph

One was what a mess the new away shirt looked, with most comments being along the lines of ‘it is more like a polo shirt rather than a team shirt’. Another was the price of a pint, which at anything between 50p and £1 had been the highlight of the trip for many.

The final of the main trio of subjects sparking debate was the dawning of a new era for English football after the way in which Fabio Capello had successfully ditched the old guard in favour of a line-up dripping with youthful exuberance.

No, scrub that last one. It is a lie. Not one person I spoke to in the Bulgarian capital during the hours that followed England’s 3-0 qualifying win said anything of the kind.

Sure, we were all pleased that England had sidestepped a potential banana skin in the Vasil Levski Stadium.

But, due to the poor standard of the home side and the belief that new dawns come along almost as regularly as new Three Lions kits, no one among the 3,000 of us who had gone to Sofia was getting carried away.

Imagine, therefore, the surprise of our particular travelling party when we flew back to this country (via Greece and Norway, but that’s a story for another day...) on Sunday morning to be met by media coverage heralding a great step forward for English football.

The switch to a 4-2-3-1 formation was, along with the youthful make-up of Capello’s starting XI, being held up as a clear sign that a corner had been turned and that a golden future lay ahead, prompting a couple of us to wonder whether we had been in Madrid or Sofia on Friday night as surely only a win over the best team in the world would cause such a reaction.

It was all so over the top that it was laughable. In many ways, though, it was typical of modern day football where short-termism rules as last year’s World Cup’s debacle seemed worthy of consigning to the rubbish bin thanks to beating a team who in nine previous meetings between the two countries had scored just twice.

Okay, the performance and result had been decent and just what the travelling fans had hoped for when heading east during the previous week. It had also been pleasing to see Capello veer away from the 4-4-2 formation that he had stuck so rigidly to in South Africa with such ruinous consequences.

Setting up the side with two holding midfielders in Scott Parker and Gareth Barry against Bulgaria meant the attack-minded trio of Ashley Young, Theo Walcott and Stewart Downing were given licence to pour forward in support of Wayne Rooney.

The validity of such an approach was perfectly illustrated with England’s second goal on Friday night when Rooney finished a sweeping move that had seen Walcott and Young swap flanks to leave the home defence chasing shadows.

It was a wonderfully executed goal and one that I, even though sitting among the home fans due to not being able to secure a ticket in the England end, had to mark by jumping to my feet in celebration – something that, thankfully, didn’t upset the locals, who to their credit were also applauding the move that had ended with Rooney sweeping the ball past a ridiculously out-of-position Borislav Mihailov in the home goal.

Nevertheless, there is still a long way to go before anyone can seriously believe that the national team is on a genuine upward curve.

Let us not forget that England go into tonight’s qualifier against Wales not having won at home in four attempts, their last being a year ago against Bulgaria. Draws with Switzerland, Ghana and Montenegro plus a 2-1 defeat to France mean another failure to claim all three points will see the Three Lions going five games at Wembley without a win for the first time in almost 30 years and for only the third time in history.

That should not happen, even allowing for the Welsh pulling off a 2-1 win against Montenegro last Friday night – a result so unexpected that when rumour spread in Sofia that Gary Speed’s side were 2-0 up no one believed for a second it could be true.

Wales are, as was proved last March in the Millennium Stadium when England coasted to a ridiculously easy 2-0 win, a poor team. Anyone from the principality who disagrees with that view should be asked to explain just why the five countries sitting immediately above Wales in the FIFA rankings are Haiti, Guyana, Guatamala, North Korea and the Faroe Islands.

Qualification for next summer’s European Championships should, therefore, be all but sealed by 10pm tonight and it is only then that thoughts can really turn to whether England are ready to start punching their weight among international football’s heavyweights.

An indication should come in November when, if the supporter rumour mill is to be believed, a home friendly is due to take place against Spain (providing neither country is involved in the Euro 2012 play-offs).

The rearranged meeting with Holland is then due to follow in February, meaning that come early next year we will surely have a better idea as to just where England are at.

And if the Three Lions can come through those two tests with credit then maybe the fans who follow the national team around the globe really will start to believe once again. But, until then, any post-match chats among supporters are likely to be restricted to much more mundane matters.