My 2 Cents on the England team

It’s been a week now since England were embarrassingly dumped out of the World Cup by our old foes Ze Germans. The dust has finally settled and every commentator, pundit and blogger has offered a multitude of reasons why the English football team has failed again: The weight of expectation from the fans and media; the fact our players aren’t as good as we make them out to be; the manager’s decisions; the fact we underestimated and under rated the German players; the lack of young English talent as a result of old fashioned English football coaching culture; tiredness from a long grueling Premier League season….and so on.

I’m not here to pin point one reason. In fact I’m here to say that they are all valid reasons for why the England team has failed and will continue to fail until we address these issues. And in this article, I will address the 3 most important ones.

England Expects

The English are a proud and passionate bunch. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why. Perhaps the very fact we’re an island and have experienced many attempts from other nations to invade our shores which has turned us into fighters. Or perhaps it’s the once glorious yet non existing British empire which has continuously reminded us that we are apparently a great nation. Our perhaps it’s the fact we have been on the winning side of two World Wars and triumphed in the face of adversity.

Whatever the reason, pride and passion are clearly evident in our attitude towards war and competition. And because the English can no longer throw their military weight around like they have done in the past, we focus our attitudes and expectations towards competition particularly through sport. Tennis, Rugby, Cricket…Football. And yet, whilst a little bit of patriotic pride is healthy in uniting a nation; our media and fans often take it to monumental levels whenever the England football team begin a tournament. This places enormous pressure on our players who know that should they fail, they have a whole country read to tear them apart on their return. Yes, we all experience pressure in life, but to have 60 million people breathing down your back should you founder is an entirely different matter.

And whilst some may point out that all the other teams in the tournament have expecting fans and media, I personally do not think they are as demanding as the English. Take the French team for example. They may have failed spectacularly in the world cup, but rather than the focus being on their poor performance, attention was paid more towards the way the players the humiliated the nation through their behavior towards each other and the manager rather than the lack of results on the field.

Brazilians are perhaps the closest when it comes to expectations of their football team. Yet at the same time, Brazil have 5 world cup and 8Copa America’s to their name. Such a rich history of successes gives the team confidence and inspires them towards victory. England, on the other hand, have 1 World Cup win and have lost all but one penalty shootouts in all competitions. When you’re an English kid who is aspiring to be a professional footballer, and you are repeatedly taught this history, this has a massive a psychological impact which hangs in your head as you step on to the field having worked hard enough to make it as a professional and be called up to the England team.

Our players aren’t as good as we make them out to be

The majority of our players aren’t world class. The Premier League is the most watched league globally and this is in no small part due to highly effective marketing. However this marketing also serves to hype up any English player with any semblance of talent. Their images appear on adverts all over the world and their names are shouted with ferocity by commentators in a hundred different languages.

The problem is, that just because you’re English, famous and play in arguably the best football league in the world, it doesn’t make you a world class player. Within the England team, I see only 3 world class players. Wayne Rooney (although now debatable given his failure to perform at both World Cups he’s been in), Ashley Cole and Rio Ferdinand.

The rest of the bunch are pretty damn good. But world class? Definitely not.

Take Steven Gerrard for example. Quite clearly, the lad has talent. In fact, in terms of technique and technical ability, he is one of England’s best. But his lack of a football brain hinders him from using his talent effectively and ever being world class. Too often I see him taking the wrong decisions on the field. Trying to force the killer pass when he should be playing it simple to retain possession, playing a stupid Hollywood long ball that again results in possession being conceded, shooting from ridiculous positions etc.

A commentator on the England vs Germany game said that only 1 player from the German team could make it into the England team. Rubbish, pure arrogance and lack of respect towards some very good German players.

Yes I’m telling you now, we have barely any world class players and worryingly, we have very little coming through the youth systems. And this brings me on to the third issue:

Old fashioned, English football coaching culture

The writer of Arseblog.com, the unofficial Arsenal blog summed it very well in his piece immediately after England’s defeat to Germany:

“foreign players are far, far better technically. They learn a different game as kids, they're not stuck on a full sized 11-a-side pitch at 9 years of age and told that passion and spirit are what will win games. They learn to pass, control the ball, move off the ball, retain possession, slow things down and not do everything at 100mph. Technical ability counts at this level, having players who don't think they're the best in the world is a good thing too.”

For a nation that is obsessed with football and has arguably the best football league in the world, our approach to how we play the game and teach our kids to play the game is laughable. As the Arseblog writer correctly wrote, we do indeed stick our kids on full sized pitches at far too young at age and pressure them into winning rather than playing good football. The biggest, strongest, most athletic players who can punt the ball the furthest up the field succeed whilst skill and technical ability are coached out of them.

We also get the most inexperienced coaches to look after youth football when really it should be the most experienced ones as it is at this age when most young footballers develop their skills.

Arsene Wenger once said that to create a successful player, you must approach it like building a house. The basement represents the key technical, football skills which every footballer needs and keeps the structure standing. No basement means the house can never be built. The ground floor represents the physical aspects of the player – whether he has the strength and athleticism to keep up with the game. The 1st floor represents the tactical aspect of player - whether he can understand the game and how it should be played. Finally, the roof represents the desire and passion of the player to become a professional.

Unfortunately, most English coaches of football prefer to build bungalows with no basements. As a result, too many English players are hard working athletes rather than footballers.

Football football football

The papers tomorrow will probably use words such as ‘incredible’ and ‘impressive’ to describe the opening ceremony of the 2010 World Cup. I however, beg to differ. It was tedious and almost predictable in some places. Whilst it’s always nice to see a nation’s demonstration of its culture in sporting ceremonies, World Cup openers have become routine events where as many pop stars, musicians and children from the nation in question are shoved in to produce an over bulging ritual that simply tries too hard. I suppose my own standards were pretty high having watched the immensely impressive, yet hugely expensive, opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics two years ago. I don’t think we will be witnessing a ceremony better than that for many years to come.

That said, it was rather nice to finally see a highly criticized country prove to the world that they could pull it off. It was like watching the end of those TV shows where fat, ugly people are put through a makeover and surgery and finally revealed to their friends as this transformed and somewhat attractive individual. Well done South Africa and well done Africa.

In terms of the football, the quality has been poor so far. The opening match between South Africa and Mexico was average at best bar a stunning goal from the hosts. France against Uruguay was even worse. Still, it was the first day and group A was never really going to set the tournament on fire. I am sure that in the next few days, we will be watching edge-of-our-seat matches where grown men will readily admit to messing their pants after witnessing a goal scored using immense skill and finesse.

And one also hopes that come 9:15pm tomorrow, we will be cheering an England win over those loud mouth Yanks.

Enjoy the world cup ladies and gents :-)

English Society Creates its Own Issues

So for the past few weeks, I have noticed a fair few nationalist groups springing up on Facebook which have obviously been as a reaction towards fictitious or miss-quoted news stories that have arisen in light of the World Cup.

I am of course referring to groups such as “STOP Police banning the England flag during the World Cup” and “Its funny how our flag offends you but our benefits dont”. One cannot help but notice, on top of the grammatical errors in the title, just how moronic these groups are and not least the disgusting amount of xenophobia that reeks from the thousands of people who have joined or liked them.

This talk of banning England shirts because it offends ethnic minorities is most certainly false and we can clear this up with an issued statement from the government themselves here.

Of course, these right wing imbeciles would also point out the recent story of the woman whose young son was supposedly refused entry on to a bus because his England shirt offended the Polish bus driver. This, again, was also proved to be a lie as was shown by the bus company’s investigation here. My guess is the real reason she was refused on was because she could not afford the fare and decided to express her bitterness towards the ‘dirty’ foreigner whom she has a deep-seated abhorrence towards.

These incidents show, not just how some sections of English society still bear some sort of irrational animosity towards immigrants, but also how some white English people actually create a lot of these issues themselves.

There are some white English, who are so terrified of offending ethnic minorities, that they go to great lengths to have, for example, popular nursery rhymes such as ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’ changed to ‘Baa Baa Multi-coloured Sheep” or to ban Christmas decorations from being put up in areas that have a high Muslim population. It really is political correctness gone mad.

But the real problem occurs when more right wing idiotic sections of society, who don’t do their research properly, read about these proposed changes or bans and then decide to blame the all ethnic minorities for it when they failed to realize that it was in fact their white counterparts who suggested it in the first place.

This is exactly what has happened in the build up to the World Cup. With patriotism riding high, it was inevitable that some sections of English society would misconstrue news stories regarding England shirts, flags and supposed banning.

Although there are some small sections of ethnic minorities communities that do indeed have a militant hatred towards, not just British, but western society - their membership is, relatively small and certainly not representative of the views of the majority of the immigrant and immigrant descended community.

As far as I know, most ethnic minorities do not care whether a white English person flies the St George’s flag for the World Cup or wears their England top. In fact, most of us are in fact joining in quite happily with the World Cup atmosphere. I’m probably more patriotic about our national team than most of my white friends.

And to jump on the bandwagon that all immigrants are simply coming over to claim benefits and cheat the system is just simply hogwash exemplifying how many people buy into the hyperbole of appalling publications such as the Daily Mail and The Sun. The vast majority of immigrants travel to the U.K to work hard in the form of employment or study.

Of course, some may point out that a St George’s flag cannot be flown without the said individual being labeled as racist and fascist. This, however, is the fault of political groups such as the BNP and the National Front who have used the flag so extensively, that it has almost become a symbol for these extreme views. Whilst such connotations decrease during the World Cup, I believe the only way we can stop this happening is by reclaiming the St George’s flag from the right wing. Encouraging all English, no matter what racial background, to be proud and to demonstrate their patriotism.

My Jekyll and Hyde Attitude Towards the World Cup

With the dust settling after all the recent British political fervor involving a coalition relationship between two unlikely individuals, I have decided to turn my attention towards the greatest sporting event on earth. Yes, the World Cup is only a few weeks away and I can already feel the atmosphere building in this country like a volcanic ash cloud creeping into the airspace.

What I love about the World Cup is the fact it’s the only time this self depreciating, self-hating country actually binds together and experiences some form of patriotic pride. It’s the only time the fault-finding English forget about the unpredictable weather, the badly paved streets, and the apparent degradation of society driven by those individuals we call chavs. It’s one of the few periods where a white English person can fly a St George’s flag without fear of being labeled a right wing racist – although this has never been a problem for myself being of an oriental disposition.

Without sounding too much like a representative of FIFA, I have to say I love the World Cup fever. I love seeing everyone walking around wearing their England tops and the cars driving past with the St George’s flags attached to the windows. I love how the country is gripped when the national team plays their matches and the joy that ensues when we score. I love getting drunk and singing the England chants with friends and complete strangers at the pub. No other event can come close to bringing this nation together. Not the Olympics, not even St George’s day.


Yet, at the same time, I also experience Jekyll and Hyde syndrome whenever a World Cup comes around. At times, the grumpy old man within me rears his ugly, wrinkled head. The main issue at stake is the fact I dislike how all these individuals who normally take no interest in football suddenly become experts at the sport – not least those women who suddenly feel they are ‘in with the lads’ by wearing their England top, drinking pints and screeching the chants in the pub. And then they tell you their favourite player is the one with the nicest legs and that they like the French team because their kit is pretty.

Groan.

And for god’s sake, stop asking about Beckham. He’s injured, past it and has no future left in the national team. Additionally, when the World Cup is over, these same people tell you that it’s just a game and question why we follow the sport so religiously. Unbelievable.

It is a difficult tension between two personalities that I have to overcome, but ultimately (I’m glad to say), the patriotic drunk always wins.


As for England’s chances, I have to say despite the controversies involving certain players, the Football Association and even the manager, we have the best chance of winning the World Cup in years. Even more so then 4 years ago with the so called ‘Golden Generation’ and a clueless, balding Swede.

Our manager, Italian he may be, is the best manager the team has had since Alf Ramsey. A disciplinarian, a tactician and a maker of men. Unlike the attack-at-all-costs style of the Premier League, international football is significantly more measured in its method of play and requires a lot more restraint and a more cultured approach towards the game – something which the national team has failed to do for many years. Fabio Capello has finally stamped upon the England team a more international style of passing the ball short and keeping it; rather than hoof it up to the big man at every opportunity. He’s got the best out of star player Wayne Rooney and most importantly, he’s got the team playing with confidence after years of ego-battering underachievement.

I suppose then, that my final words to this introduction to the World Cup are ones of hope and encouragement. Let’s unite as a nation, let’s get behind the lads and let’s believe we can do it.