England qualified for South Africa comfortably, and Fabio Capello appears to be a fine coach, but England’s group proved not to be terribly testing. Their main rivals for automatic qualification ended up being Ukraine and they didn’t even make the Finals, as they lost out to Greece in a play-off.
Friendlies against A-list opposition have confirmed England’s status as a second-tier international side. Admittedly they were not recognizable first teams that played Spain or Brazil (particularly in the latter fixture) but the gulf in global standing was palpably apparent. This distinction was perhaps clearest against Spain when England were reduced to impotent ball-chasers. England have also failed to beat France, Netherlands and Czech Republic in friendlies. England are still no better than many of the other principal nations, and are still well behind the very best. Even against slightly less-esteemed footballing nations, the degree to which England can still be given the run around by technically adept teams is worrying. England were also lacklustre in their pre-tournament games, and their inability to keep cleansheets is a further worry: 1-0 victories do not seem to be in the repertoire.
In addition, the usual injury worries have plagued a squad that has played a gruelling Premier League season. Gareth Barry is one of Capello’s key players but won’t be match-fit for the start of the tournament. Barry is one of the least replaceable players, as there is no obvious back-up for the more defensive of the central-midfield slots. Following the loss of Rio Ferdinand to injury, an already shaky looking back four now looks decidedly brittle. And whilst England’s most important player Wayne Rooney had a fine season at Man Utd, this still spluttered to an end with niggling injuries preventing him from sustaining his good form.
Tournament football does come down to fine margins, but there is little evidence to suggest that England will need any fewer dollops of luck than usual to make it further than the initial knock-out stages. A favourable draw may ease their passage to the second round/quarter-final crapshoot, but the draw doesn’t usually plot a simple route to the final. When England encounter high-level opposition, there is a good chance that they will be eliminated. Spain and Brazil seem to be a significant margin ahead of the chasing pack, but teams such as Germany and Italy usually obtain momentum and confidence as major tournaments progress.
It also appears that there are fewer teams in contemporary international football that can be knocked over easily. The breadth of decent contenders is broadening as teams from outside Europe and South America become better established: South Korea, USA and Australia will all be fielding sides that would hope to remain competitive in the knock-out rounds. And whilst the climate may present less of an obstacle to England than usual, it should be expected that teams from the African continent will perform to their highest level yet at a World Cup. The only time the World Cup was played outside the Americas and Europe, an Asian side made the semi-finals. It would be a minor surprise if an African team did not make the most of continental home advantage and replicate this feat in 2010.
So to consider that England will win the World Cup is to lapse into Anglocentric myopia. The only time England have won the World Cup was when they had home advantage. They have made the semi-finals of two major tournaments over the subsequent decades – and they benefited from home advantage again on one of these occasions. This underscores England’s position within the world football hierarchy, and intimates that it will require more than a tactically astute coach to enable them to lift the trophy.
In terms of technical skills, England have been behind dozens of teams for a while now. Whilst other countries have their kids playing Futsal and learning skills, we have them practicing kick and rush football.
There is no real incentive for Premiership clubs to train and retain homegrown players over foreign players so they keep on poaching talent from abroad.
We have an antiquated FA who are more interested in preserving their own power and status rather than improving the state of the game at any level.
Root and branch reform is needed, but I don’t see it happening any time soon.
However we do still produce many technically gifted footballers who would be ‘at home’ in any of the top European teams.
We just never seem to gel as a team regardless of the manager or tactics – however I have faith that all will change against the USofA and we will witness free-flowing, passing and moving, attacking sexy football.
I agree with Think About It. We produce the players, but our mentality about how the game is played differs from other nations. I play for a pub football team in Germany and we are mainly UK and Irish people, relatively fit, and relatively young(ish). Every week we lose against fatter and older Germans basically because they are better structured and keep possesion of the ball. Got nothing to do with Futsal whatever that is!
Keeping possession is precisely what Futsal is about Colin. Smaller pitches, a smaller, weighted ball to allow for faster passing. The rules create an emphasis on improvisation, creativity and technique as well as ball control and passing in small spaces.
Sounds like 5-a-side using a cricket ball!
On me head son!