Where does http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/England-c749 stand after one year after their FIFA 2010 World Cup debacle? (Part 1)
In the summer of 2010, the English national team went out of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in shambolic fashion after losing their round of sixteen knockout stage match against old rivals http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Germany-c2904 by four goals to one. It was a demoralizing
performance from England which left the whole nation teetering on the brink of football depressing. One year on, England are now vying for a place in the European Championship which is scheduled to take place in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ukraine-c3032 in 2012.
It is a strange period for English football where the national team is a base of footballing experiments of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Fabio-c13152 Capello. Certain players have retained their place in the English national team due to their reputation rather than
their extravagant performances whilst others are struggling to gain access to the national elite as they are either playing for clubs which are not of noteworthy fame or because older horses are unwilling to abandon their stables.
England’s latest performance against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Switzerland-c3016 in their EURO 2012 qualification campaign is just another indicator of where the team is headed. The exact destination of England’s national football team is still unknown but common
sense dictates that it isn’t going forward and neither is it going backward, it’s staying right where it is. In short, it’s going nowhere. Under Capello, England drew 2-2 against Switzerland with a performance that can best be described as profligate.
Capello came out after the match and told the media that England’s players were tired after returning to international duty after a long gruelling season with their clubs in the Premier League. Whilst this may be true, what also
is true that the players were below par. Fabio himself was at fault for several things during the match. For starters, the ex-Real Madrid manager omitted http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ashley-Young-c6813 from his squad.
The Englishman was England’s best player in their previous EURO 2012 qualification outing against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/James-Milner-c17706 on the left wing. Additionally, the ex-A.C
Milan manager also left out http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Adam-Johnson-c3537 of his team altogether. Two of England’s best wingers were left out in favour of Milner and Walcott.
The latter two disappointed right from the start. In the centre of the park, Lampard was depressingly dull just as he was for http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/John-Terry-c18895 looked
helpless in possession and at right back http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Darren-Bent-c10358 went missing as well. It is already recognized that Bent brings nothing to the Three Lions squad other than his goal scoring prowess
but that prowess was on a holiday when Bent missed a clear cut goal scoring opportunity in the dying stages of the match.
On a tactical level, England were once again quite clueless. Capello started the match with a three main midfield against a two man central midfield deployed by Switzerland. This in theory would’ve allowed England to retain possession
for large periods of the match but statistics show that this was not the case. At the end of the match, England had 52 percent of the ball whereas the Swiss as 48 percent.
When this statistics is put under the microscope whilst considering the fact that Switzerland were defensive throughout the match and England were playing at their home turf, such a weak display by their central midfield is neither
appropriate nor acceptable at the international level of football. In the end, England stand where they had finished the FIFA 2010 World Cup as an average side with over-rated players, some of which have potential whilst others are just living out their remaining
days as footballers.
In the next part England’s youth program and the problems at the grassroots levels in English football will be discussed...
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