English football – players, coaches, supporters and, yes, media – is so narrow-minded that it took a goal of unimaginable vision, athleticism, technique and execution to wake everyone up to the fact that Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a player.
Read Daily Mirror match report: Take Zlat! World class Ibrahimovic scores four to upstage Steven Gerrard's big night
He hadn't really done it against Premier League teams. He had won seven championships on his journey through Ajax, Juventus, Inter, Barcelona and AC Milan (it would have been nine had Juve not been stripped of two titles) and had been named Serie A's best foreign footballer in four of those seasons.
But he hadn't really done it against Premier League teams. And in our world, that's pretty much all that counts. The most exciting, the biggest, the richest, the best etc, etc. A £5billion bubble of complacency and self-congratulation.
Only to Ibrahimovic, it means little. Zlatan might be a confirmed itinerant but he has never shown any serious inclination to come here. Maybe our insularity offends him. It certainly intrigues him.
He interrupted a fulsome tribute to Steven Gerrard to wonder how England's captain might have developed had he challenged himself in a different environment.
"...I would like to see Steven in a big international club. It is very exciting when someone goes abroad and shows who he is in another competition. A fantastic player can make a difference in every country wherever he plays …"
There is, of course, little chance of Gerrard or any of his England team-mates leaving the wealthy confines of the Premier League. Why would they?
Take a cross-section of the England team embarrassed by Ibrahimovic in Stockholm. For his erratic defending, Gary Cahill was valued at £7m when he had six months of his Bolton contract to run.
Raheem Sterling is a 17-year-old who has played a handful of Premier League games... and his advisers are reported to be chasing a 50 grand-a-week deal. Stoke are offering Ryan Shawcross – unlikely to forget his first meeting with Ibrahimovic – £15m if he continues to ply his uncompromising trade in the Premier League over the next six years.
Wilfried Zaha is not even in the Premier League yet, but he is already having his name stitched into his sponsored boots.
It has never paid so handsomely to be a Little Englander.
No need to adapt to a new culture, no need to take on the character-building challenge of learning a new language, no need to confront technical shortcomings.
David Platt – possibly also Steve McManaman – was probably the last England international to improve himself considerably by going abroad. David Beckham had already reached a plateau by the time he went to Madrid, while Michael Owen's heart never seemed to really be in his Spanish expedition.
By common consent, Wayne Rooney – in whom Roy Hodgson puts so much blind faith – is the only Englishman with the talent and audacity to emulate Ibrahimovic. Imagine how he would have developed in Barcelona's system.
Imagine Gerrard linking up with Cristiano Ronaldo, Mesut Ozil and Jose Mourinho at the Bernabeu.
Of course, the majority of the Spanish team play in Spain. But David Silva, Juan Mata, Xabi Alonso, Alvaro Arbeloa, Pepe Reina and, before the last 18 months, Fernando Torres added a dimension to their game and character by adapting overseas.
But Rooney and England's other leading lights are locked in a lucrative comfort zone. The speed, physicality and directness of the Premier League is second nature to them. Hence, the more intricate demands of international football finds them wanting.
The days of going to the continent for more cash — remember the moves of Kevin Keegan, Graham Rix, Tony Woodcock, Paul Gascoigne — are long gone.
The Premier League is a commercial phenomenon. Its success shows no signs of abating. But it has left England with a stagnant talent pool – without the vision, athleticism, technique and execution we all finally realised Zlatan Ibrahimovic has in abundance.
England have more chance in Israel than Brazil
As the England Under-21 team ended their 2012 exertions unbeaten, there were some promising performances in the 2-0 win over Northern Ireland, most notably from Thomas Ince and Nick Powell.
In June next year, Stuart Pearce's squad will go to Israel for the European Championships finals.
At the same time, the seniors travel to Rio for a return friendly against Brazil – the country providing the opposition at Wembley in February for the start of the FA's 150th anniversary celebrations.
The assignation in Israel dwarfs the importance of the trip to South America, so let's hope Roy Hodgson and club managers think likewise.
Competitiveness and success at junior levels has been the foundation for Spain's dominance.
That is why every one of the best eligible players should be selected for the U-21s next summer.
That includes Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Raheem Sterling and Wilfried Zaha. Jack Wilshere, 21 on New Year's Day, will still be available and should go.
There are green shoots in English football. They will only blossom with hard-edged tournament experience.
Terry is judged by double standards
Sympathy for John Terry is sympathy for the devil.
But remember the outcry when Terry parked his car in a space reserved for the disabled? It was a 'crime' that came to symbolise all that is reprehensible about the Chelsea captain.
Robin van Persie leaves his motor in a disabled slot while in Portugal for a couple of days and a spokesman for Manchester Airport says: "It looks like a mistake on his part."
And we all forget about it. Every now and then, Terry must feel a little hard done by.
Time only waits for the FA
It has now been 20 days since Chelsea made an official complaint about the behaviour of referee Mark Clattenburg.
It is such a serious complaint that it has to be investigated thoroughly.
But the delay in a decision – one way or the other – from the Football Association is inexcusable.
By the time it comes, some people might be beyond caring. Maybe that is the FA's idea.
Bo Jo needs to be bolder
West Ham United's owners are said to be running out of patience with Boris Johnson over the delay in sorting out the future of the Olympic Stadium.
I'm not surprised.
It is a good job the feelgood factor from London 2012 still lingers... because the saga of what will happen to its centrepiece venue – which will not be ready for future use until 2016 at the earliest, it seems – is becoming an obscenely expensive farce.
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