[mkempe]

Indeed, that was then. Italy's team has slowly shifted since, to include a few ex-pats, following the trend of other national teams -- except for England, which hasn't shifted at all. Note that Italy didn't even qualify for this World Cup.

We'll soon see whether the unimaginative style of England's team, which my hypothesis attributes to their insular spread and consequent recruitment of top players, is a match for other national teams. I expect them to struggle against both Panama and Tunisia, and to completely fall apart against Belgium unless the latter already feel comfortable with the group results to date.