Google isn’t showing World Cup Doodles anymore because it thinks England are sore losers

Doodles likely won't be back until the World Cup final

The Google homepage as it appeared around the world on 30 July (top) and in the UK (bottom) (Google)

If, like me, you're sad enough to have noticed the absence of World Cup Google Doodles from the UK homepage this week (it could be worse, a one pixel change in the company's logo didn't go undetected last month) you might be wondering why the brand has reverted back to its logo when the rest of the world is still getting cheerful consonants doing keepie-uppies.

The reason is that since England crashed out of the tournament in tragic fashion it is presumed that there isn't much appetite for the World Cup here anymore.

It might be true to an extent, what with English sporting hopes now turning to a repeat performance from Andy Murray at Wimbledon, but with our friends across the Atlantic putting in a spirited performance and our interest in football hopefully extending beyond just our own efforts, it seems a little cynical.

What's more, plenty of teams who have also gone out earlier than they'd hoped/expected (including Spain) still have the Doodles on their homepages. Are the English really such sore losers?

Google plans to reintroduce them in the UK but not before the final on 13 July.