Have the "Three Lions" become kittens? (or the decadence of English Football)
Sunday, 25 November 07, 05:14 AM
I have been watching a few games of the English Premier Football League and one conclusion came to my mind: the British style of football is outdated.
I know a lot of my fellow English friends are gonna be very upset with me but this is my very honest opinion and I’ll explain how I got to this sad conclusion.
When you analyze the dynamics of modern football you will end up talking about teams like Chelsea, Real Madrid, Milan, Barcelona, Boca Juniors, São Paulo just to name a few. These teams represent a huge evolution in strategies, efficiency, and ability. An almost perfect balance of defense and offense without taking away the finesse that the sport requires. But when it comes to National Teams we don’t see that same balance.
Some National Teams were able to evolve and some others just got stuck in their own tradition. That’s the case of England.
I don’t like to analyze football using numbers but they will play an important role in this case so let’s check them out:
Even though being the inventors of football, England only started playing in the World Cup in 1950. Since then the event happened 15 times and England qualified for 12 of them. (England did not qualify for the 1974, 1978 and 1994 WCs)
In those 12 participations England only won 1, in 1966 when they were the hosts. The next best result was a 4th place in 1990.
England never won the European Championship. The best results were a 3rd place in 1968 and they also got to the semi-finals in 1996. That’s it.
I know that England gave the world of football some amazing players: Gordon Banks, Bobby Charlton, Alan Shearer, Gary Lineker, David Beckham, Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney… but the question is: how many of them could actually lead the English team to a title? Well, Gordon Banks and Bobby Charlton did in 1966…
I’m not a fan of the British style of football. I grew up admiring Gary Lineker but I haven’t seen any transformation in the English team since then. I saw “the promise” Michael Owen become not more than a promise, I saw David Beckham rise in the eyes of the media but didn’t see him being really effective for the country, and I’m still waiting to see something amazing from Wayne Rooney.
England is out of the Euro 2008 so we will have to wait for the 2010 World Cup to see some changes. Well, that’s if they qualify (?)
What do you think should change in the English team to make them a winner team?
Is the massive presence of foreigner player in the Premier League a problem?
Is the fact that all players in the National Team only play in England a problem?
Do you think if England “exported” its players to countries like Spain, Portugal, Russia, Italy… the game style would be improved?
Let us know what you think…
Hoping for some future Glory...
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and yes, it could be an idea. having english players going to play outside their country but again, england is a land full of traditional things that are kept and in my opinion, you are not too much
opened to changes like this.
make it doesnt make sense, but this is a very good post :O)
Well as an American i have to say this article was well written but the English game is not "outdated" per se. The issue is that the rest of the world has caught up, there is now a form of
international parity going on in the beautiful game. The same thing happened to American Basketball......at one time the dream team was unbeatable we paved the way for hoops around the world but now
we are gettign beat by everyteam from Argentina to Croatia. The era of dynasties is over esp in the most popular game in the world. Pretty soon MLS players and Premier players will be on the same
level......with that said Go Dynamo!!! back to back champs
Well... the "export" argument doesn't really hold up, because Italians don't play outside of Serie A, but they were finalists at the World Cup in 1994, semi-finalists at France 98, finalists at Euro
2000, and winners at Germany 2006
Nicely written. I think it also has to do with the overhyped, overpaid players who have more of an allegiance to their rich club, than to country. I think the current ex coach did not impose enough
discipline on the team, nor developed any sort of style. They are still playing the old long ball, but these players are in top Prem teams that play in a more European style with foreign coaches for
the most part. I agree that the tactics are old and need to be updated. Here's to a complete overhaul to the England National team, FA infrastructure etc! England will be missed.
7 Comments
Very well written. I also think there's something very wrong with the team. I don't believe it's the style though, I think we need to find the best coach to work with those players. Sven-Göran
Eriksson has been doing an amazing job with ManCity so why not him?
i agree. something really wrong or difficult for us to understand. i thought about it during the last world cup. englsih team were one of my favourites, they had great players...
youngers and
experient other ones. i know a lot of people that would like to have a gerrad, rooney or joe cole in the team...the problam maybe is picking up the right manager indeed.
maybe some ideas that
were exposed here are very good, the international ones, someone that are not immersed at premier league and some international background....