On writing this, recent results and performances from England’s international footballers would have you believe that the game in this country is in the midst of a crisis; with the U21s eliminated from the European Championships after losing both opening games and the senior team facing criticism for its current style of play, lack of goals and possibility of not qualifying for next year’s World Cup in Brazil.
And whilst foreign players and the physical demands of the F1 paced Premiership haven’t helped, the grim reality is that England are punching at exactly the same weight they always have done – bar when they’ve played on home soil in 1966 and 1996 – a good national team who’ll generally qualify for major tournaments but won’t often go beyond the quarter finals. Despite possessing talented individuals, England teams and tactics have never excelled on a global scale and not even the much vaunted ‘Golden Generation’ of Beckham, Owen, Ferdinand et al could reverse that.
These three along with Gary Neville, Terry, Campbell, the two Coles, (Joe and Ashley) Scholes, Gerrard and Lampard were lauded as the nation’s golden generation of players who would consistently challenge for top honours on the international stage and end England’s long wait for a tournament victory. Yet despite their obvious individual talent and amassing an array of titles and individual honours at club level between them – at home and abroad – only Gary Neville has played in a tournament semi-final at Euro’96.
And whilst there have been injuries to key players, red cards, dramatic penalty shoot outs and wrongly disallowed goals, the painful truth is that they, like so many others before them, haven’t been good enough to win. Yet Sky Sports, former players, fans and the English football fraternity are still deluded enough to think that the Premiership is the best league in the world. An all German European Cup final might hint otherwise.
Tactically and technically, England’s international teams have always lagged behind the best and the painful truth is that until more emphasis is placed on skill instead of size at youth; until all English managers complete the coaching courses many are allowed to ignore; and until England players don’t feel intimidated playing for their country, the national team’s fortunes and standing will remain the same. With or without Wayne Rooney.
iheartsport 