At this point in the 2006 and 2010 build up, there were loads of England flags hanging out of the windows here and the tabloids had gone into England hype overdrive.

This time it all feels different, I haven't seen a single England flag on display outside a supermarket and the tabloid hype has been much more low key. No one I know believes we have a chance of winning.

The dire performance last time must have really hit home to even the most optimistic England fan that we simply just aren't good enough.

It's been replaced by exaggerated tales of woe and inferiority by the looks of it.

England haven't had a realistic chance of winning any of the world cups I've watched, just because you aren't the best team in the world doesn't mean your rubbish either. Fans go from one extreme then the other.

I find the lack of hype quite refreshing actually. no unrealistic expectations.

If England beat Italy in the opening game any lack of hype will change overnight.

probably. But it is odd not to see the flags flying from every white van

A week to go yet. By next Saturday it'll be full on hype mode as usual.

And then if we beat Italy, the tabloids will be crowning us as Champions incarnate after 1 game.

In the run up to the 2010 World Cup, there was a LOT of hype. And looking back, probably a lot of it was justified. We had an excellent qualifying campaign, looked strong and had a group that was easily winnable.

And it went well for about half an hour into the opening game against the USA. After that, well....

England scraped through the group with 2 draws and a 1-0 win, and then came up against the Germans.....and lost 4-1.

Any hype was quickly extinguished, and the nation seemingly went back to saying how rubbish England were and that we'll never win anything again, blah blah blah.

So I'm quite pleased to see the hype almost non-existent. I think there is a good mood within the England squad from what I've seen, and although it's a young squad with a few experienced players thrown in, the potential is there to be at least half decent.

Wait until the results justify the hype. We may not be World Cup winners, but we are certainly not completely useless either.

Now, where did I put my flag?....

My mum and dad bought me this plastic statue thing today, a Knight thing if a shield, in its hand.

They produce any old tat, to sell don't they

In World Cups gone by, I think although we knew, in our heart of hearts, we weren't going to win it, there was always that belief that we could, if many of the other top teams got knocked out, reach the semi's, or even the final in an extremely lucky (for England) tournament, and that was definitely something to get excited about. This time round, I think we're all resigned to the fact that even getting out the group will be difficult. Difficult to garner much excitement when there's a very real possibility you might only play three games.

I'm not an England fan. You'll get out of your group. I think you'll do well actually. The lack of expectation means the team won't be suffocated by the media/fans etc.
Hodgson has you playing pragmatic, dull football but there's pace in the side and England always seem to score goals, even when they look ordinary.
I'd not be so depressed if I were you

There wasn't any hype at the last major tournament either.

I'm not sure what's preferable, the over-optimistic hype, or the incessant negativity we get around every England game now!

The lack of expectations on our lads is a good thing, but the noticable lack of flags is a bit sad.
They brought a colour and atmosphere to the country that isn't usually there.
Where i live, during the last World Cup there was a noticable drop off from the numbers of flags on cars and houses, but there were still plenty of them around.
So far this time, i haven't seen a single car with a flag and only one flag hanging from on a blacony.
But today i did see two young lads dressed in Saint George suits and they were attracting some curious looks.

I do hope the flags come out because it's not quite the same without them!

It's called realism, and it's a good thing.

Or people just aren't brainless patriotic morons anymore?

England have always been shit. People have just engaged their brains this time.

uruguay are a very good side, they have quality players right through the team, they are well capable of getting to the semi finals. from what i have seen of england in the pre world cup games i think uruguay and italy will put england to the sword, especially if england continue to pick rooney who is in woeful form...

Lack of hype its about time.

Aye. I think we're more likely to beat Italy than Uraguay

Our record at major tournaments suggests we haven't been 'shit'. We haven't been the world beaters people have hyped us to be, but we regularly make the last 8 of major tournaments so we can't be that bad.

Let's see how we do in the first game. It will dictate the entire mood of the nation.

I think that come Thursday, the hype train may just be starting to move a bit more than it has done up to this point.

I have managed to find one England car flag. It wasn't even on display at my local petrol station, but the shop assistant found it somewhere in the back of the shop. I'm quite amazed that there aren't any flags on display anywhere and it is very difficult to buy any World Cup souvenirs.

By contrast, Germany (where my family lives) is in an absolute World Cup fever! There are whole departments in every supermarket and newsagents dedicated to the World Cup. You can buy absolutely anything World Cup related, including tiny German WC baby grows.

The lack of excitement in England is quite sad.

why should we be excited? it's not like we have a hope in hell of winning this thing.

True but we'd give up getting excited about a lot of things if there was always that hope no matter how unrealistic.

Exactly. Blimey if we only got excited about competitions when we're favourites to win, most of us would have stopped supporting our clubs long ago!

Maybe this doesn't apply so much to the once every four years fans, I don't know though, just guessing.

I'll probably never see my country play in a World Cup, but I'm looking forward to watching the whole tournament just the same.