On Tuesday England somehow managed to belittle their tags as favourites for the ICC Champions Trophy by losing the semi-final to Pakistan in embarrassing fashion. And now we've really had enough of going out of sporting tournaments with egg on our faces!
For two years England have been one of the best teams in world cricket when it came to ODIs. Sure it took an embarrassing exit from the 2015 World Cup with the team playing a style that was 10 years out of date to wake them up but it did the trick.
What followed was two years of relative success, picking the right players, playing in the correct style and becoming favourites for a 50 over tournament for the first time in a generation.
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And yet this week somehow they managed to throw it all away on home soil. After easily beating Bangladesh, New Zealand and Australia, a victory which send the old enemy home, Eoin Morgan's side imploded against the unpredictable Pakistan in the semi-finals.
Hafeez celebrates the winning runs after a hopeless display from England. Image: PA
It left England with their heads in their hands and wondering what next but at least the cricket team know they aren't alone.
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From Euro 96 to the World Cup in 2006 England managed to show themselves in a decent light in someway or other, before of course being knocked out. Throughout that period only Euro 2000 was a particularly bad time and even in that competition the Three Lions beat Germany.
Euro 96 was a penalty loss in the semis, a second round defeat against Argentina in 1998 wasn't too bad really and defeats to Brazil and Portugal in 2002, 2004 and 2006 were respectful even if at times the national side should have done better.
In 98' failure was dramatic and glorious, not embarrassing and pathetic. Image: PA
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Then in 2008 came the 'wolly with the brolly' and England didn't even manage to qualify for the Euros. 2010 saw annihilation by Germany in the second round of the World Cup.
2012 saw a tame England go out on penalties to Italy and in 2014 and 2016 just finished off the total embarrassment of it all.
At the World Cup in Brazil Roy Hodgson's side were knocked out before they stepped out on the pitch in the final group game against Costa Rica with a second string side.
A boring 0-0 waved goodbye to the side in what had mainly been an exciting tournament elsewhere.
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However worse was to come. Last year in France was the ultimate in red faces as Hodgson's side found a way to be beaten by Iceland in the second round.
The Iceland loss was just ridiculous. Image: PA
England didn't exactly set the world alight in the group stages but they should have been good enough to beat the Scandinavians.
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Instead, despite taking the lead, the team were all at sea and never looked like winning the game once they went behind their minds were shot.
And cricket and football are not alone. Rugby has a way to embarrass us too. Sure in the last two years under Eddie Jones that might not have been the case but recent history tells its own story.
In 2011 the Red Rose embarrassed themselves on and off the pitch. Just four years after making the final and eight years after winning the World Cup the team were knocked out in the quarters.
But that was the least of Martin Johnson's side's problems.
Martin Johnson seemed to spend the whole World Cup talking about his players off field behaviour. Image: PA
Mike Tindall, Chris Ashton, Toby Flood and Dylan Hartley were all pictured worst for wear on a night out after the first game of the tournament.
Courtney Lawes picked up a two game ban for striking an opponent. two backroom staff were suspended for switching the balls Jonny Wilkinson was kicking.
James Haskell, Hartley and Ashton had to apologise to a female member of their hotel's staff for making inappropriate comments.
Delon Armitage was suspended for the quarter final for a high tackle and finally Manu Tuilagi was fined for jumping off a ferry with the players partying after they'd been eliminated.
It was all a bit of a shit show!
Four years later and Stuart Lancaster had brought better discipline off the pitch to the players but on the pitch they ended up being a shambles.
The head coach started badly by picking Sam Burgess in his squad at centre, then lost his bottle and changed the style of play England had recently been playing.
Burgess was hardly to blame but he summed up everything wrong with the end of Lancaster's tenure. Image: PA
Chris Robshaw's aberration to go for the corner and the win against Wales cost them as retrospectively the three points and draw would have taken them through.
Instead a battering by Australia saw them become the first hosts knocked out at the group stage!
For a supportive public we aren't half hard done over by what are supposed to be the country's main sports, especially team sports.
But we can't just blame it on the simple mentality of being English or British, which seems to always come into it as we can't help but fail.
In our Olympians and solo sports the success has never been greater.
British sports stars can be successful! Image: PA
Anthony Joshua, Andy Murray, Mo Farah, Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy, the Brownlee Brothers, Nicola Adams, Lewis Hamilton, Laura Kenny and the like continue to get better and better.
Even our youth teams and women's team can at least back up their promise.
The under 17s lost on penalties in the final of the European Championships recently, the under 20s won the World Cup and the u20s B-team defended the Toulon tournament the u21 won last year.
The under 20s proved that England teams can win. Image: PA
The women of course made it to the semi-finals of the last World Cup and had their own 'England' moment when Laura Bassett scored the most ridiculous of last minute own goals to knock themselves out.
Really it's about time someone stepped up in a major tournament.
The football team will have a chance next summer in Russia, the rugby boys go again in 2019 in Japan and the cricketers get their chance on home soil the same year.
Who can stop the rot?
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Rugby, Football, England