Football news: Joe Cole spills the beans
England crashed out of the world cup in an embarrassing 4-1 loss to Germany, Joe Cole the England Midfielder believes there are a lot of issues within the team which led to the disappointing display in the world cup.
Cole said that it was not that the problems came all of a sudden. As soon as the squad came together for the world cup just after the premier league season ended, there were obvious problems in the camp, which were not addressed and the result is there for everyone to see.
Cole said that the team in simple words was just not good enough, let alone the world cup even in friendly matches we did not look like power houses, referring to the 6 games the team played before the world cup.
Cole added that the weight of expectations for a team that certainly has not been a force on international front was too much to handle for many.
The soon to be former Chelsea man said that, he would not like to go into the match strategies and tactics, but simply would like to apologize to the fans, as the team let down the manager and the whole nation.
The performance of England team not only in the final game, but also the group games where they drew with USA and Algeria is a cause of concern to one and all, raising the question that what is the reason behind the fact that, the same bunch of players show a whole different game and commitment when it comes to their clubs, but just cannot bring the same game when it comes to playing for their country.
Former England legend, Alan Shearer is among a number for former players that have criticised the use of Wayne Rooney in particular; he believes Rooney should have been used as a lone striker, while others have pointed out that the team looked tired in general.
After the 2nd group game against Algeria, former England captain John Terry had said that there is some unrest in the team, and the players need to voice their opinions in order to have a better and open environment within the team. However, the manager made Terry eat his words just a day later.
The move by Terry got very little support from his peers, Lampard came out and said there is no rift in the squad, while Capello said it was a “big mistake” by Terry, who had to openly apologise the very next day.
John Terry was handed the captaincy after the 2006 world cup, when Steven McLaren took charge of England team. His first move was to strip Beckham of captaincy and leave him out of the squad but Terry’s dream of leading his country in the world cup could not be fulfilled, as the arm band was taken away from him after some problems in his personal life came to the surface.
Manchester United Defender Rio Ferdinand was handed the captaincy for the world cup, but he also could not realise the dream as he was injured just before the world cup, so Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard finally led England in the world cup.
Joe Cole said that there is no doubt that the hunger was there in the team, the team did all they could but the team was just not good enough.
Cole added that the plain and simple fact is that Germany was by far the better team on the day. We did all we could but everything just went wrong especially as soon as Lampard’s goal was disallowed.
The midfielder refrained from commenting on the future of the manager, and said it is for him and the federation to decide.
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