Why England Succeed To Fail

Last night the England U21s crashed out of what appeared to be South Africa 2010 #2.

In the Euro U21s England showed we had failed to learn from England’s disastrous World Cup campaign last summer.

Many of the same problems we had in South Africa showed in our performances in Denmark. Previously people have blamed poor passing, poor close control, poor management and the list goes on. But what can really be to blame for almost 45 years without a competition win?

Most people reading this are probably thinking, “Poor coaching in grass roots football!” or “Bad passing!”. I think otherwise.

Let us look back at the 2006 World Cup for a second. Looking at our squad I think we had by far the best in the world. Frank Lampard was at his peak, Michael Owen was scoring goals and Joe Cole was actually fit, so why didn’t we win? We have had a team of individuals ever since we last won the World Cup.

In the 2006 F.A Cup final Steven Gerrard was superb, at the time it was probably one of the best performances by an individual ever. Soon after he travelled to join the England squad, and somehow he had hardly any impact on the World Cup whatsoever. That is just one example of England’s individuals.

The UEFA Champions League is often referred to as “the most prestigious club competition in the world”. I would even argue the quality of football in the Champions League surpasses that of the World Cup.

So why do the likes of Frank Lampard, John Terry and Peter Crouch succeed at the highest level and fail in the World Cup?

Most of England’s players are used to being their club’s star player, but unfortunately having a team of stars does not mean having a star team. In fact it means quite the opposite. While Spain have a team ethic that in most peoples’ opinion works, the Spanish players seem to have a belief that they are only as good as the player next to them. This results in passing football and everybody getting a chance to prove what they can do.

But England’s players tend to go it alone and the only way to win against the likes of Spain is team play. Arsenal proved this in their home leg vs. Barcelona in the Champions League last year.

So if England want to succeed they will have to rely on the Jack Wilshere’s of this world, in other words players who appreciate you only get from the team what you give to it.

Written by Thomas Munson