There’s one common element that I saw England carry throughout their games in the World Cup. That element, common to the squad and England fans alike, is discomfort. We saw discomfort in every minute of four full matches until England fell at the hands of Germany 4-1.
All of us who follow English football know the sharp talents of striker Wayne Rooney, as well as midfielders Steven Gerard and Frank Lampard when they choose to apply themselves. England have been well rounded at every position; a fact that can’t be stated about smaller national teams like that of Paraguay, Slovakia or even the United States.
Yet the whole time we watched England play, it was easy to notice that the midfield could not get Rooney the ball much less get anything going in front the opposition’s goalbox. And as winger Aaron Lennon scorched speedily down the flanks, against the US and Algeria, it became clear how small he was, having difficulty maintaining possession even against the slow defenses.
But the main problem for England wasn’t lack of ability or size. If nothing else it just looked like a bunch of guys who didn’t know how to play together. This brought to mind my own pain, as an amateur player, playing on a team of strong, athletic, experienced soccer players who would get railed week in and week out by opposing teams, sometimes 5-0 simply because we shared no familiarity til the season’s end.
It was said last week that France was so terrible, again not because of talent, but because it was eleven men playing separately and by themselves on the same field. I could be dead wrong, but it looked like England was feeling the same pain. Unlike the French though, England wanted desperately to play together, and to do so competently. The Three Lions just could not get a momentum, like the new boy lost at the schoolyard on the first day of the school year.
In years past, there was a difference and greater sense of comfort with the England team of the early 2000s. While sometimes predictable, the team and its aging players always seemed to have coherence at there worst and a collective fire at their best.
Take for instance the great 5-1 win against Germany in Munich. As usual the Germans scored first, but it was the Liverpool troika who scored all of England’s goals. Michael Owen bagged a hat trick amongst two goals from Gerard, before a final dagger at the end of the match my Emile Heskey, Liverpool’s “non-scoring” striker. These three players had started for their club for years before, playing 38 games a season together for Liverpool not counting tournaments.
Add to that the midfield was rounded out by Paul Scholes and David Beckham, and Manchester United duo who had not only played long with England but came up from the United academy together, getting acquainted as teens. And add to that a back four that for a decade plus seemed to come straight from Arsenal’s Highbury Stadium.
Instead, it seemed that this time around, the England squad was an experiment in diversity. England in 2010 was made up of players from a half a dozen clubs and became a team, never coached by an Italian that suddenly played its game on the wings. The midfield set itself up with two wingers and two other midfielders of an offensive slant, mostly in Lampard and Gerard. With James Milner and Gareth Barry as relatively new additions to the midfield, this lack-of-formation formation didn’t seem too smart when the consensus is that your back defense is not rock solid and your strikers aren’t exactly a partnership.
As such, England’s style of play seemed at best a work-in-progress that hadn’t yet progressed on to World Cup Scoring 101.
Sure, you could say that professionals of the highest talent should be able to play well together without much dress rehearsal. Or that time and time again, England was not up to the challenge because their players are too pampered and too rich, with nothing than fame and recognition to play for. Both are probably true.
Yet the intangible talents of a team –the ones that help a team dominate and go the distance –are not dropped in the team’s lap with the arrival of one player or a star studded coach. Furthermore, top club talent does not necessarily make top international talent. Fabio Capello, assuming he stays at the helm, will need to trim the fat, stamp out the celebrity flair and figure out what players really have the drive to win for their country. The rest will come with the building process.
Any good builder will tell you, a house can’t be build without quality materials, no matter how expensive or glamorous the tiles on the wall might be. It’s time for England to rebuild the house, and consider a World Cup trophy a long, arduous and worthy project.
Andy Frye writes about sports and life at MySportscomplex.blogspot.com and via My Sports / Complex on Facebook and Twitter. Writings © 2010.
His opinions may be wrong, but at least he didn’t lose 4 – 1 to Germany today.
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