World Cup Soccer 2010: Who should be blamed for England’s failures?
The World Cup in South Africa is at its peak right now, as the remaining teams face each other off in the knock-out stages of the tournament. With the look of things, there is promise of drama and controversy in the remainder of the tournament. With a do or die situation at hand, any lapses would result in the elimination of the remaining teams. Luck will count a lot.
England stumbled in the Group stages by making a number of faux pas in the field. Despite all this, the ‘three lions’ still managed to qualify for the next round of the World Cup. However, it had to be ensured that the team goes into the next round, full of confidence and concentration. Due to a string of bad performances in the group stage, the English only managed to win the second spot in their group. As a consequence of this, they had to face an in-form Germany. Fabio Capello was brimming with confidence. On the contrary, the Germans seemed focused to win the match.
The match, however, did not prove too good for the English team, as it saw one of the biggest defeats in England’s soccer history. The Germans killed the English team by a fierce counter-attacking game, finally winning the match by a humiliating margin of 4-1. It is for sure that the English press and fans would look for excuses but the blame game is expected to start within a matter of days, if not weeks.
The match saw an English goal denied by the referee’s assistant, as Frank Lampard’s long range shot hit the cross-bar and went inside the goal-line before bouncing out again. This is a major debating point in the entire tournament, as it has once again started the debate about the use of referral systems in football. English Manager Fabio Capello has shown a lot of disappointment in the governing body of football in resolving this age-old problem in football. Capello believes that such incidents are a clear indication that the use of video technology is necessary in football matches. Otherwise, such controversies would keep on brewing in the game of football. The English FA has also backed Fabio Capello on this issue, and is persuading FIFA to quickly make-up their minds. FIFA officials, on the contrary, have denied any such reforms in the future.
The match also saw fatigue issues with the English players, as they were unable to cope with the German pace on counter-attacks. Glenn Johnson, Gareth Barry, Wayne Rooney and John Terry looked tired and were found gasping during the match. As the English were chasing the game and looking for a goal throughout the match, they could not defend deep enough. This gave a lot of room to the German attackers, who exploited the weaknesses of the English side in successfully scoring twice on the counter-attacks, after more than an hour into the game.
There is no doubt that the Premier League clubs are to blame for player fatigue. The English Premier League is the longest league in the world where players have to play the main League, the Carling Cup along with the FA Cup. Also, some teams participate in the Champions League and the Europa League as well. Due to this hectic schedule, the players hardly get any rest, as they are exposed to rigorous training throughout the year. The clubs would be blamed for ruining the players just before the start of the World Cup. The example of Wayne Rooney would be given as a matter of beer bar discussion. The centre forward was at the top of his form throughout the season, before he had to stay out at the end because of an injury.
Last but not the least; the blame would be put on Fabio Capello, the English manager. He would be blamed for employing wrong tactics. For instance, he started with Emile Heskey in the opening two matches, where logic is hard to find. If he had made the right decisions, England would have been facing Ghana instead of Germany in their second round match. This devastation could have been avoided altogether, if Capello had planned everything correctly.
There is no doubt, that there is a little bit of everything involved in the English demise. However, the biggest blame should be put on the shoulder of the English players such as John Terry and Glenn Johnson. They are supposedly the super stars in the English line-up who failed to shine for their country and let their fans down. These players are so far out of their heads and have such big egos that they are not ready to take any blame for their team or their manager. A simple apology to English fans around the world would do away with the entire damage done to the pride of the England football team.
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