Being incumbent champions isn’t easy—indeed, there’s nowhere to go but down. Yet the England squad of 1970 was, arguably, a better team than the team that had lifted the trophy in 1966. The England side’s pre-tournament time in South America was eventful, involving team captain Bobby Moore, a missing bracelet and no small amount international intrigue (an episode that forty years later sounds vaguely like the plot of the Great Muppet Caper.)
If you're going through hell, keep going.
Winston Churchill
Yet despite this drama, England were in good shape to make it a back-to-back win with ’66. But then Gordon Banks, goalkeeper of legend, got food poisoning (since the Cup was held in Mexico, it could have been a touch of what Americans call
Montezuma’s Revenge). His substitute Peter Bonetti’s performance was full of errors, such that it led to England going out in the quarter-finals.
Stuff happens. Sometimes, despite all the planning and good intentions in the world, things go wrong. You can’t expect the unexpected, otherwise it’s not really unexpected, it’s just highly improbable.
It’s important to remember that while bad times can be very, very bad, time does pass, and until the machines rise, the zombies come, or that asteroid comes belting toward the Earth speedily, it won’t be the end of the world. You can pick up the pieces and move on, just keep calm and carry on!