Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney are effective team-mates at Manchester United, but the England striker was out of sorts in South Africa. Photograph: Tom Jenkins for the Guardian
Ryan Giggs believes England's failings at the World Cup were down to the fact that they did not have a team ethic.
Fabio Capello's side lost to Germany in the last 16 after stumbling through the group stages. It was a frustrating time for the players, especially Giggs's Manchester United team-mate Wayne Rooney. England's top striker failed to find the net in South Africa as the nation exited the tournament early.
Speaking to the Chicago Tribune, the former Wales midfielder Giggs said: "England had great individual players but at the World Cup they didn't play as a team. The team that played together were Spain, more than anyone else, and that's why they won.
"You see that so many times. You have individuals and you try to move their positions, and it just doesn't quite work. It just doesn't come off.
"And that was the case with England. It just didn't happen. There were big expectations, but players didn't perform individually and as a team. It wasn't just one thing. It was a lot of things that went wrong, similar to a lot of teams this year, like France and Italy."
The United midfielder Paul Scholes rejected an approach from Capello to come out of retirement and play in South Africa. When asked by the Tribune if he had any regrets, he said: "Yes, maybe a week before.
"You see all the hype and I thought maybe I should have gone for it. But I decided not to and that was that."
