Lazy stereotypes. Admit it, we’ve all done it. Writing about German football without using the word efficient is the journalistic equivalent of eating a donut without licking your lips. Italian football is slow, dull and built on playing not to lose rather than going for the win. England’s players are fast, powerful but have the first touch of a fumbling teen that got the head cheerleader drunk. Even when players don’t fit this mould they are dismissed as ‘the exception that proves the rule’ such as Brazilian midfielder Dunga who was as far removed from the ideals of Samba football as Paul Scholes was from what we expect English players to be.

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