Monkey Men?

Darwin's The Origin Of the Species is the seminal work in natural or scientific history. (Leaving EH Carr rapidly aside that is) It elevated the human race from the dark ages of Christian omnipotence and liberated European humanity from absurd biblical notions of creationism. His development of the theory of Natural Selection concluded that in simplistic terms, the dominant life form in a given situation would progress at the expense of one that did not have the suitable attributes to adapt and survive. Thus we are down to the last 8 teams in the World Cup, six of whom are previous winners.

England have failed to raise the rooftops, their supporters sing, chant, believe and buy little red & white flags in hope rather than through hard empirical evidence. But what is England's position in the footballing world? Are we like Darwin going to be remembered for one magnus opus - the 1966 World Cup, or is that just a seminal moment in the scope of our development? Can we become Shakespeare? Macbeth is a seminal work of English literature, but is not Hamlet his magnus opus? Shall 2006 join 1966? Or have we touched the stars already and now our fate is only to look at them in wonder?

Selection has concluded we are superior and luckier than others. Through either, it does not matter which, we are at this moment. The Portuguese await tomorrow, twice recently England has been vanquished, but we have re-emerged. Have we progressed from previous failures? Has nature acquired us with superior skills evolved from our origins? Tomorrow we will know. The games afoot...