Something about England’s loss to Iceland struck me as emblematic of the whole English national psyche. We acted like a world power before that match. Not even we really believed it, but somehow we had faith that if we said the right things then our fantasy would come true. How were Iceland the underdogs going into the tie? Their group record was better than ours and they looked more convincing. But the English mentality ignores facts in favour of myth. However, as soon as it’s put to the test, that myth looks incredibly fragile and we’re left shaking and trembling as the reality of our situation hits home – unable to act as the weight of our delusions buckles our knees. This is the attitude that has seen us fail to learn the lessons of foreign wars from Suez to Iraq and has given us the idea that we can somehow opt out of the modern globalised world to stand aloof and untouched. As a nation we are unbearably pretentious but when put to the test we are left crying in self-pity. This outlook has seen us in the mess we are today. Some people are saying the footballers let us down. Not so. They represented us perfectly.
Mark Barrowcliffe
Brighton
• As in politics so in football: when the hour came, there was no plan.
Simeon Gilchrist
London
• It is comforting that the England team has heeded the prime minister’s urging to respect the out decision of the electorate.
Andrew Matheson
Alcester, Warwickshire
• Can we start a petition for the England-Iceland match to be replayed? We’ll get the right result next time.
Jonathan Stanley
Godmanchester, Cambridgeshire
• Roy Hodgson is held responsible for England’s demise, but the poor chap has been working under the same handicap as all his predecessors: he can only pick Englishmen.
Dave Harris
Potters Bar, Hertfordshire
• Hvað er íslenska orðið fyrir “schadenfreude”?
Fr Alec Mitchell
Manchester
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