England are probably destined to fail at every major international competition until Roy Hodgson retires or is sacked, and they're likely to continue to disappoint when Stuart Pearce and/or Gareth Southgate replace him. At all times they must remain English, and if history since 1966 is any indication, that means they'll enter Euro and World Cup tournaments high on confidence and hype, and exit with a zero goal difference and/or after losing on penalties.
An enticing prospect, to be sure, but one that Kenny Dalglish thinks Steven Gerrard should stick around for despite their latest failure:
"If I was the England manager, I would be trying very hard to persuade Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard not to retire from international football. I have heard a lot about the kids coming through who are going to make Roy Hodgson's team contenders at Euro 2016. There are a few exciting talents out there, like Raheem Sterling and Luke Shaw, who have a lot of promise.
"But I don't see anyone ready to step in if Lampard and Gerrard retire. If Lampard and Gerrard do retire, a great big hole is going to open up in England's midfield. If I was in charge, I'd tell them not to worry about reporting for the September friendly. I'd just play them in competitive matches. These kids who are coming through need senior players to look up to at the start of their England careers. There is nobody better than Lampard and Gerrard to fill that role."
Apparently Kenny hasn't heard that Gerrard and Lampard cannot and will not work at any point, unless their reanimated corpses are engineered to work in tandem. For now, though, it seems that their respective England careers will be coming to an end shortly; Lampard will be leaving England for pastures new, while Gerrard will likely prolong his club career at the expense of country.
Unless that Gareth Southgate comes calling.