They Finished 2nd: ITALY

Who'd have thought it? After such a bad World Cup and a scandal that almost resulted in them withdrawing from the tournament?

But it's things like that that good managers can use to their advantage. Develop a siege mentality in the dressing room. It's them versus us and if we stick together, we can show them.

And that's exactly what they did, only coming unstuck against an awesome Spanish side, about whom just about every footballing journalist has been waxing lyrical.

But these words are for the over-achieving Italians who showed they possess skill and a team spirit in abundance. I can only apologise to them for predicting they would win the final. Never can a team have been more doomed than one that receives my backing.

They Finished 5th: ENGLAND

They were dubbed the weakest England squad since 1992 by, er... me, and yet that did them a disservice. Our XXIII made the most of their skills and abilities only to be exposed by an average but noticeably more skillful Italian team (hence the Roman numerals earlier in this sentence).

The fact remains, as it has always remained since the remains of dinosaurs were discovered in er... Remania that English players are not comfortable on the ball. English players cannot pass the ball as accurately or incisively as players from other nations. And English players cannot win penalty shoot outs.

Plus Points: We have a keeper for the next fifteen years in JOE HART, who could and should eclipse Shilton's appearance record. JOHN TERRY was epic, justifying his inclusion ahead of Rio. The number of times he blocked shots numbered more than the fingers on my hands, and there was that scoop against the Ukrainians that'll be talked about for decades in er... Kiev. GLEN JOHNSON is a skillful player, one of our best at taking people on. STEVEN GERRARD was the assistmeister general, delivering balls with pinpoint accuracy for the recipient to convert into goals. And finally CROYDON BOY ROY, the kind of manager players want to play for and who got more out of the squad than I and many others thought possible.

Italy 0-0 England; Italy win 4-2 on penalties

And so another tournament ends for England. The team ran out of energy after 50 minutes, though their ability to hold onto the ball dissipated a lot earlier than that.

But for the woodwork and the epic foot and bodywork of John Terry who was England's man of the match by a country, city and suburban mile, this would have been over long before Ashley's Young and Cole missed their penalties.

For me, and yes, I am about to enter armchair manager role, Young should have been subbed early in the second half instead of Milner, who was having his best game of the tournament, crossing effectively and looking in the mood to take people on.

Young, on the other hand was having a bit of an off today to put it mildly, and I can't have been the only one shouting 'noooo' at my wallmounted widescreen when he strode up to take his spot kick. It was like me having a bad day at the office and then being asked to work late. Inevitably, and like Mr Young, I'll end up hitting the bar.

But no blame should be attached to those whose spot kicks went awry. The gulf in class between the Italians and the English was as wide as something that's very wide indeed, an oil tanker in fact, to try and continue the gulf theme.

We must wait at least another two years for more disappointment, and sit and watch as the Italians take on the Germans on Thursday.

They Finished 10th: CROATIA

So, the second of my predicted semi-finalists, and one of my predicted finalists, have double-checked the sock drawer, replaced the remote on top of the television, checked under the bed for loose change and checked out of their hotel room, bound for home.

I thought I was on to a cheeky one with this lot. So much so, there was a fiver each way on them to win it at 40-1.

Those bookies knew what they were doing pricing them so temptingly. My money is theirs. After a great opening game against the Irish, it looked like I'd made a canny move. But the Irish were the whipping boys.

After a creditable draw against the Italians, it was almost party-time in my house (exaggeration). But the party was pooped by the Spanish. World, European, Figure Skating champions of the Universe. Yes, that Spanish.

But I remain impressed with the team and the manager. The fans? Not so much.

They Finished 16th: REP. IRELAND

And we have our first faller.

Less than a week after the tournament started, it's over for the Irish.

There was to be no glory, no David slaying Goliath against Spain, and no doubting Croatia were the better side in their opening game.

Irish fans were undoubtedly the stars of their show, and will be out in force and good voice against Italy. But, much like England, there's a real lack of stars on the pitch. Although they do have performances from James McClean to look forward to.

He needs to start against Italy.