Do me a favor. Count the number of major tournaments in which you have supported England and ended up disappointed. 99% of you reading this will vote for 100% disappointment. Do me another favor, will you? Count the number of times when you have expected Rooney to shine in major tournaments and you have ended up content with the result. Another favor, pretty please okay? Promise. Last one. Count the number of times you have expected England to play a certain system (formation, attacking, defensive – whatever) and they have complied. Ok ,enough. Let’s get on to reasoning, shall we? So what exactly is wrong with the English football team?
There are various facets to this. I’m not going into all of those because I don’t want this article to have the size of the Bible; but of all, what I get most irked about is the hype England players receive before every major tournament. I mean c’mon, how good is England? As a team, I would not rate them higher than Sweden (who failed to qualify), or Ivory Coast. Heck make the two said teams play in a match and I bet the ageing Drogba would still cause ripples in that English defense. England has had some supreme (read: average) players over the years. The Lampards and the Gerrards always seem to turn up like heroes when playing for their club. Not so much when playing for their country. How many times have you seen those two and Rooney rise from the brink and win matches for their club? Countless.
Hype and media attention making players feel they are superstars. The media and the FA – two aspects of English football the English people are not much proud of. The FA is notoriously famous for coming up with dubious decisions when it comes to league or country. I don’t know what meth-head sits on that decision-making seat but he’s definitely eternally high. So what’s up with the media and their “White Pele” assessments? If you called Rooney that 5 years ago, I would have still leaned on towards believing you. Rooney, as Scholes mentioned and I believe too, is past his peak. And he was never a Pele, although he had the potential to reach that level. Then came Paul Stretford. I digress.
Captain Fantastic – I would believe you if you were speaking of Gerrard with Liverpool. I would also believe the “one of the best midfielder of his generation” quote. Sadly, not when he turns up for England. Since that 1966 World Cup win, England have never tasted World Cup success. 48 years – 12 World Cups, a bit too much for a team having “world-class” players over the years, don’t you think? Let’s face it – England was never world-class and probably never will be. I was laughing at the talk going around before the World Cup that Roy Hodgson might lift the World Cup this time, England are capable, and a load of other similar shit about England that goes on before every World Cup. That’s like talking about Moyes winning the Champions League. Yes, laughing while you pictorially imagine that – I get it. Again, I come to the same question with a different angle – what is wrong with England?
England is cursed. Cursed with poor managers, poor executives, and a poor team. Most of you certainly expected a lot more from them this World Cup, but I did not. Having supported them since the past 15 years, I wanted them to put up a good show but I knew they would not be able to do that in the Group of Death. As painful as it was, I had predicted them going out of the group stage. And you can see what has happened. I hear the English FA have decided to keep Roy Hodgson as England manager till 2016. My initial reaction? England will be disappointing in yet another major tournament. Oh, and it adds up to the list of the “excellent” decision taken by the FA over the years.
It’s confusing to figure out a solution for England to revive themselves because pretty much everything seems flawed – FA, media, manager, player mentality. Do yourself a favor, stop supporting England if you are non-English. As for me, I like the sweet taste of victory after hardships so I choose to support England in the hope that someday, they will bring the Cup home.
