Quantcast
Channel: Buzzin Football » South Africa
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 10

Will England win the next World Cup?

0
0

Last night I watched an interesting documentary presented by Match of the Day presenter and former England striker, Gary Lineker.

Lineker went to Spain to see how they had turned around their own misfortunes.  It’s difficult to see how, now they are currently European & World Champions but before this latest wave of success, Spain had an even worse record than England for underachieving in the big competitions.

Comparisons were drawn to the way La Liga attracted some of the best players in the world in the 1980’s while ignoring the importance of nurturing home-grown Spanish talent.  Gary Lineker himself was a success at Barcelona, as was English manager Terry Venables; and though Spain have only conquered Europe and the rest of the world in the past four years, it was a revolution that allegedly started when Dutch maestro and former player, Johan Cruyff, returned to manage Barcelona in 1988.

Cruyff stated that the national side would be perennial underachievers if the top teams in La Liga continued looking to foreign players for short-term success. Cruyff’s model was to produce better quality indigenous players by a matter of inclusion and focus on a longer term strategy that started at grassroots and ended with national success.  This coupled with the fact that when boys are coached to play football at an early age, they should be learning the skill of playing with the ball, not simply competing to win.  A criticism levelled at English football.

Jurgen Klinsmann kick-started a German revolution after replacing Rudi Voller as manager of Germany in 2004.  Klinsmann initially attracted criticism from some quarters with some poor results leading up to the 2006 World Cup.  He had axed many aging stars and attempted to change the way Germany play.  He wanted Germany to be less rigid, offensive and less constrictive in their play.  For change to take place Klinsmann, like Cruyff at Barcelona, needed to think long term and have the backing of the German FA to see it through.

England wasn’t the only nation to have a poor World Cup in South AfricaItaly and France had shockers too.  But England’s last and only glory was 44 years ago now; and the England crisis is far deeper than other nations.

While English Premier League teams continue to enjoy European Champions League success the England national team have become worse.  So, as Jose Mourinho said, look at the clubs that have done well in Europe over the past few years (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool & Manchester United) and count their English players.  That is definitely a factor in England’s demise.  But England was failing to qualify for the World Cup and European Championship finals long before the Premier League and English football was filled with top foreign players.

Another cause for England’s poor standing in European and world football is a more entrenched problem.  Boys are told to compete and win over learning to be skilful. I left secondary education in 1981 and I remember way back then we were being told the reason every Dutch football player looks so comfortable and skilful on the ball, is because he is; and England players hoof the ball around and get the ball into the opponents’ penalty area as quickly as possible because that’s what they are taught to do from an early age.

Italy and France relied on past glory and older players, and England juggled unrealistic hope and expectation once again.  All were found out in South Africa, while Spain and Germany, along with Holland, were the best and most exciting teams in the World Cup finals.

Tonight England host Montenegro in a Euro 2012 qualifying game at Wembley.  Look at their squad and ask yourself, how many of those players would get into the Spanish or German starting eleven?

Will England win the next World Cup?

The short answer to ‘will England win the next World Cup?’ is definitely not. Furthermore, they won’t win it again until these deep-rooted problems are addressed; and that can only be achieved with a long term plan and strategy in place. By appointing Sven Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello, the English FA has put its head in the sand and attempted to buy the World Cup in the same way as the Premier League buy the best players in the world. So, the only thing England fans can do right now is be grateful they’re not Scotland!


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 10

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images