With the World Cup underway, one might be wondering as to how and when will be the England's national team's early demise. Because an early demise it will be, as it's been the case for so many times. Made up of really great players, the team will nevertheless put up mediocre fights and manage to get eliminated at some unimpressive stage. This has become a tradition by now, and these are the English after all...
I predict a defeat or possibly a draw with Belgium, two "triumphant" wins against Panama and Tunisia, and the early exit in Round of 16 against Senegal. If it's Poland or Columbia in Senegal's stead, then we might even see England in the quarterfinals - the third time best result in whole 28 years, 7 tournaments which is. What a sad record for the founding fathers of the sport, 2 quarterfinal top climbs in last six World Cups and likewise in last five Euros!
This streak of unremarkable results roughly (and weirdly) coincides with the presence of the Premier League established in 1992, undeniably the greatest domestic league in the world. People seriously doubt it's just a coincidence, and so do I.
The Premier League produces strange results. This is the first National Team in over twenty years the most of the first squad players of which aren't in fact the predominantly on-the-bench players of their respective clubs - hence the lack of the playing time with all the obvious results. As for the foreign stars, it gets even weirder. Somehow the likes of Dzeko or Kolarov, or Ronaldo for that matter, all find their true greatness after they leave the league. Dzeko and Kolarov were pretty much written off by the end of their Premier League careers only to become as hugely influential at the highest level as they have in Roma FC. Nani was consigned to oblivion in the end, then dispatched to Turkey - only to become the decisive force in winning the last Euros! Peculiarly, Drogba and Ibragimovic stayed on - in their mid-thirties the first to personally deliver the Champions League title and the latter to score 15 league goals in one season. Is there a lesson to be learned? It sure is, except it's not being learned. There was no place for Wayne Rooney in this national squad! The team would have greatly benefited from his wisdom and experience, but it takes some understanding of football to find a position for a veteran like Rooney.
Understanding is the key! And it is remarkable how the English don't get football. You would think the mere fact of inventing the sport almost 200 hundred years ago would have somehow contributed to actually understanding it. Or hosting the world's best domestic league? No such luck. I have played amateur football against and with the British counterparts, I have seen it. The British treat football in a way of rugby. Actually, it was called Football because it was played on feet rather than on horses, not because it was played with feet. By the same token: Rugby is Football, it in fact is called exactly that some place else as it happens - in America that is... And once that is the approach, then clever tactics and strategies, as well as individual technique of handling the ball with one's feet - all take the back seat compared to other things such as a bunch of people running around a lot. Suarez is just one man, said Roy Hodgson leading up to the England vs Uruguay game - and just one man can't decide the game. How can he when there are 10 great runners all over him! One man did actually decide that game, single-handedly -
guess who was it.
Once you can't run that much any more, then you out. Doesn't matter any more what you can still do with the ball, wether you still can score incredible free kicks on a persistent basis, for example, or make great penetrating passes with a technique and intuition refined in years. These are the things that Rooney can still do better than anyone in the present team. But he can no longer run like Raheem Sterling, can he? Well, he doesn't have to - that's my main point!
Take Liverpool's story of late. Mohamed Salah is considered by the British pundits the most praised possession of the team. And sure enough, we in America, the celebrity junkies that we are, parrot the praise and even expect from the Egyptian national team to perform miracles at the World Cup. Do I disagree? Well, yes, very much so. The one man effect is not what will make an impact in this case - it is not that kind of a man! Whereas Liverpool actually has a player whose qualities must be valued higher than Salah's, but only few seem to be paying deserved attention.
This guy's name is Sadio Mané!
Not fully appreciating players like Mané is another problem with the English football psyche. Or Suarez, or even aged Rooney...
In the end I say this: Egypt's performance on this World Cup will be poor, while Senegal with Mané will pull off something extraordinary, to the extent of course. Salah is a great player, and a very nice guy. He's just not the kind that can carry the team. Mané, on the other hand, is exactly of that kind. I'm not sure if the English fans will ever see this right. Perhaps when Senegal beats England then they will.
I'd be happy to be proven wrong, I really do. I like this English squad too much to carelessly indulge myself of cynicism and sarcasm. But that will be all what's left for me once they go out with a boom.
Great article! I agree with where you’re going here. With that being said, is there any chance, even the slightest chance that Southgate may be onto something here with respect to cultivating the younger talent? Most people I know say the Rooney decision was made because of public perception of Southgate appearing too “soft” just prior to 2016. What are your thoughts?
The English young talent is astounding, but so was the previous generation, of Rooney and Steven Gerrard, and Lampard, and Beckham... and it was cultivated alright. It's not the talent, or absence of it I lament about, it's the coaching... Apart from the Rooney decision, all what Southgate did was a no-brainer, anyone could have assembled this squad. The question is the tactics, and who's gonna make the machine run - the one guy who runs things on the pitch. Doesn't seem to be one in this squad.