international failure

[thelaticsfan]

Ive been thinking about englands misfortunes at international football level and i think a lot of it is down to the papers,

they always get exclusive scandals on the england team right before important events

 

just to name a few:

 

Before the euros in portugal: press reported about david beckham n rebecca loos, beckhams mind was obviosly then elsewhere as his marriage was hanging by a thread, wasnt concentrating on football,

 

before world cup 06: fake sheikh scandal with sven, the sun newspaper set up sven and cost him his job, obviously his heart wasnt in it anymore,

 

before steve mclaren started they were calling for his head,

 

they always look for a villain in the england team and some devastating scandal because even though it affects team morale it makes them a bit more money,

 

I can guarantee there will be some "scandal" before england start the world cup game and early indications show it will probably be fabio or ashley cole who will get the bullet from the papers - fabio for daring to try and change the engish game, or ashley cole because he has a high profile relationship they are desperately trying to ruin

[opinions4u]

There are 200 nations on the planet.

 

In the last 20 years England have reached a World Cup semi-final, a Euro semi-final and a handful of quarter finals.

 

England are also one of only a small number of nations to actually win a World Cup.

 

We punch at our weight. We should be there or thereabouts in the top dozen or so teams in the world. But there are only two competitions every four years - why the hell do we always seem to expect to win it when, assuming qualification, there are 31 other sides in a World Cup Finals a good half of those could have reasonable expectations to.

 

The reason we haven't won anything since 1966 is down to a simple statsitcal reality ... there are other countries on the planet who are good at kicking a ball around a field too. Oh, and an inability to have the balls to take a penalty kick with confidence.

 

I don't like the press, but our "failures" at international level are not their fault.

Edited October 4, 2009 by opinions4u

[johnny punkster]

of course its the papers fault england fail everytime...

 

next!

[LeylandLatic]

They may not help matters but they are hardly the cause of our failure. The one thign they are guilty of if nothing else is making everybody believe we are one of the best footballing nations and that we should expect to be making the finals of competitions, when in reality we don't have the technical ability to do so.

 

One of the biggest problems is the way that English coaches put emphasis on the stereotypically British qualities within football, strength, determination, etc and far too little on technique something which is put before all else in just about every other nation outside the British Isles. Time and again we have been shown up against 'poor' opposition who did the simple things that we cannot, like keeping possession and looking for the easy pass rather than hitting a 50 yard pass in the belief that this will force our tempo on the opposition. That's a fundamental problem with the English game, a lack of tactical knowledge, lack of patience and a lack of technical ability. Fortunately we now have a coach in charge who is trying to force a more European approach on our players, something which will only benefit us, but this needs to be pushed accross the board if we're to consistently challenge and produce enough quality young players.

 

I think we will make the Quarters possibly the Semis in the upcoming WC but I think we will come unstuck against serious opposition. Capello seems to have got us to a point where we can beat off the opposition we're expected to beat by making us tactically sound and improving our ball retention, I just don't think we are at the level the Spaniards, Brazilians, Argies etc are at yet and there are probably 5 or 6 nations who are still a little out of our reach at the moment, Fabio has closed the gap considerably though.

[Fyldelatic]

They may not help matters but they are hardly the cause of our failure. The one thign they are guilty of if nothing else is making everybody believe we are one of the best footballing nations and that we should expect to be making the finals of competitions, when in reality we don't have the technical ability to do so.

 

One of the biggest problems is the way that English coaches put emphasis on the stereotypically British qualities within football, strength, determination, etc and far too little on technique something which is put before all else in just about every other nation outside the British Isles. Time and again we have been shown up against 'poor' opposition who did the simple things that we cannot, like keeping possession and looking for the easy pass rather than hitting a 50 yard pass in the belief that this will force our tempo on the opposition. That's a fundamental problem with the English game, a lack of tactical knowledge, lack of patience and a lack of technical ability. Fortunately we now have a coach in charge who is trying to force a more European approach on our players, something which will only benefit us, but this needs to be pushed accross the board if we're to consistently challenge and produce enough quality young players.

 

I think we will make the Quarters possibly the Semis in the upcoming WC but I think we will come unstuck against serious opposition. Capello seems to have got us to a point where we can beat off the opposition we're expected to beat by making us tactically sound and improving our ball retention, I just don't think we are at the level the Spaniards, Brazilians, Argies etc are at yet and there are probably 5 or 6 nations who are still a little out of our reach at the moment, Fabio has closed the gap considerably though.

 

Agree 100%. The winning of the World Cup on our home soil has perhaps contributed to the underdevelopment of the technical side of football at all levels of the game, and put us decades behind other nations who have been teaching young footballers the importance of ball control, balance and passing game. The creation of the Premier League and all the big money that has flown into the top level of football, attracting the world's best players to our shores, should have led to the improvement of the technical level in the game at large, but hasn't happened. Instead of developing young talents with sound fundamentals, it's easier to just buy established foreign players who will instanly improve your team and bring in success. Even with all the millions swashing in PL today, the opportunities for young English talents in football are perhaps more limited now than at any time in the past.

Edited October 4, 2009 by Fyldelatic

[wozz_oafc]

Losing penalty shoot outs hasnt helped over the years. I think the players probably dread going to penalties as we always seem to lose them. Maybe if we win a couple things will change. The national team does have the stigma about it which says if we go to penalties we are likely to lose. Cant be good for confidence. In most of the international tournaments i have seen, while we may have played badly we have very rarely being completely battered when exiting the tournament. There is a fine line between success and failure and our failure is often by the finest of margins i.e. Penalty shoot out defeat.

 

I dont really buy into the we are not as technical as the other nations. The England squad is made up of many of the best players in the world plying their trade in one of the best leagues in the world week in week out. Rooney Gerrard Lampard etc are just as good as any of their counterparts from around the globe which can be seen by their performances in the worlds top competition the Champions League.

 

I believe we have a great chance next year. A great manager and a great squad (minus a good keeper sadly) and hopefully weather conditions which favour our players with it being their winter in South Africa.

[nzlatic]

I was reading one an over-by-over report of one of the Ashes tests. England were well on top and on their way to a win but just about every comment from readers and the commentator was one of how it would be possible for England to lose from that position. Granted, most were tongue in cheek but it showed a general attitude among the British - one where we expect to lose. We almost prefer it if we do. A plucky loser with a hard luck story gets much more public backing than a hard-nosed winner. Henman vs Murray, Damon Hill vs Lewis Hamilton for example.

 

This is the attitude of the general public, so it probably spreads to english sportsmen too. We do do pretty well overall by making the closing stages of most tournaments but our peverse enjoyment of being a plucky loser could be our undoing.

 

I don't know, but I'm guessing the likes of Lance Armstrong, Michael Schumacher and Ricky Ponting are loved in their respective countries. If they were English they'd probably be slagged off to the point where they fell off their perch pretty quickly.