Yes, it is a capitulation. Yes, it is a lily-livered climbdown. Yes, it is a white flag rather than a rainbow armband.
Yes, when it comes to kow-towing to the money-obsessed, power-crazed autocrats who run FIFA, the Football Association has proven itself to be as guilty as anyone. And yes, what was a fundamentally feeble gesture in the first place has now made England - and the other six nations who have surrendered - look utterly pathetic.
But here is a thing. This shameful back-tracking, this nauseous row that dominated the build-up to England’s opening match in Group B should shine a far fiercer, far more damning critical light on FIFA and on the Qatari organisers than on the FA and the national associations of Wales, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, Germany and Denmark.
