How To Coach Soccer

The moment England left these shores for South Africa a couple of weeks ago, there was much expectation that at long last, the team could bring the trophy home. Of course, that dream was destroyed in no uncertain terms by the old enemy Germany in Bloemfontein as England crashed out of the tournament losing 4-1. How may such an experienced team who qualified so easily fail to perform? Not surprisingly, the English media has put together no shortage of scape goats and explanations for what was England’s heaviest defeat at a World Cup. There has been a lot of talk about the Italian manager, formations and more but the issues are much more serious.

Since its formation in 1992, the EPL has achieved remarkable success as an international brand. The cost of this success has been felt by English football. Increased television revenue has forced wages to rise. In turn this has meant there has been an evergrowing divide involving club and country. Teams pay their footballers a great deal of money and are increasingly more hesitant to let their players turn out for their countries.

In return, players get greatly rewarded by Premiership clubs to the extent that success is recognised by signing lucrative contracts in place of anything they achieve on the pitch. Mediocre players who rarely turn out for their clubs are still millionaires and the instant these players put money ahead of playing matches at club level, there is little doubt they do not have the mental strength or hunger to play international football.

In the past, there was always a regional reserve league which ensured young footballers from lower league clubs could quite possibly be guaranteed to play versus decent reserve sides from more established teams like Arsenal, Tottenham and Man Utd. Bear in mind, in recent years, the Premier League has changed which means they will only play versus other Premier League reserve clubs. This means that Championship reserve clubs no longer get to play versus EPL sides. For teams like Ipswich Town, it means their reserve team now plays versus Stevenage as opposed to Tottenham Hotspurs and this drop in standard in opposition undoubtedly has a negative effect on the footballing education of young footballers.

With a great deal of money at stake, things are targeted at EPL survival. Teams spend large sums of money securing apparently better foreign managers and footballers in a bid to keep their EPL status. The ambition of promoted clubs to the Premier League extends no further than finished 4th bottom. The EPL cash bonanza means that Premiership clubs can feature £1-2m for young footballers at lower league clubs. The footballers are inclined to move and secure their financial futures but it may also signal the stop of their careers. The young Crystal Palace star signed for Tottenham but hardly played and was last heard of on loan at Brentford, a division lower than when he was at Crystal Palace. From a football perspective, Bostock would have been best served staying at Palace and learning his trade. How many more young footballers careers are curtailed like this pursuing the money as an alternative to playing the match?  It’s difficult to blame the young footballers for taking the money.

Addititionally there is the widespread accusation that clubs play too many games in England and more and more managers want a winter break. Bear in mind, players don’t look to be tired the moment asked to fly off to the Usa or Far East on pre-season tours. Or how about England’s friendly match next June away in Thailand?

There are too numerous ready made excuses for failure that players are ready to accept. They live a life well away from the real world with their mansions, flashy cars and trophy wives. Quite simply, there is not enough hunger or desire.

The fixture in Thailand also illustrates another difficulty. Along with the Premiership being a global brand name, so are the England team. Folks want to view the big Premiership stars play for England and in friendly matches like this, those stars will be expected, if not contracted, to turn out.  Having said that, it is not the case that the best 11 footballers make the best team. Too the majority of players are in the team based on good reputation rather than performances. Young players should be promoted into the senior squad sooner.

For the forthcoming Euro 2012 campaign, England should do away with the services of all players aged 30 or over. None of them have performed in South Africa so why should the manager persevere with them. It would be more effective to promote younger players who may still be hungry for success. Nonetheless, while the worshiping of the EPL carries on, things are probably not going to get better anytime rapidly.

The old Wembley Arena was opened up in 1923 and had a good reputation for developing one of the very best pitches in Britain. Its wide open spaces would sap the stamina from the legs of even the fittest players. Once the Empire Stadium finally closed its doors in 2000, the wonderful playing surface was torn up along with the entire arena.

England had to wait 7 long years before the new Wembley Stadium opened its doors. The new 90,000 seater stadium was categorised by UEFA as a 5* Elite Arena and is the second biggest in Europe after the Nou Camp in Barcelona. The first full international took place against Brazil on 1st June 2007.

The construction of the arena was overdue and well over budget and the issues didn’t finish there. Operational difficulties including faulty escalators on match days were experienced but there is a continuing issue that thus far has not be adequately dealt with – the playing surface.

Playing surfaces at brand new stadia usually take a while to settle down but at Wembley the playing surface is an issue and is undoubtedly one of the worst around. It cuts up far too easily and players lose their footing too often. In a recent FA Cup semi final, at least one of the goals was put down to a player slipping at a vital moment as the playing surface gave way. By the end of the 2009/2010 season, the pitch had been relaid 10 times at a cost of a million pounds and the stadium had not even been in operation for 3 years.

Yet, relaying the pitch every 3 months isn’t really the way around the problem. The design of the arena prevents the natural conditions of light and wind can’t get to the playing surface to promote the grass to develop. Some stadiums such as the one in Gelsenkirchen in Germany is on rollers so in between matches, the full playing surface is shifted outside the arena. Other stadiums have enough ventilation in the stands permitting the wind to flow and it is possible to use artificial lights to aid the grass to grow.

Alas, there are still challenges and a fix really should be found. In September 2010, England begin the process of their qualification for Euro 2012 and they are definitely the top team in their group. The last thing England don’t need, is their opponents helped by a sub-standard Wembley pitch. The games at Wembley are meant to give England home advantage.

The Euro 2012 Finals  will be jointly hosted by Poland and Ukraine. The competition is the last one to be sixteen teams as the subsequent one in 2016 will broaden to twenty four teams. Poland and Ukraine defeated Italy and Croatia/Hungary for the right to host the competition.

 

The fixtures will basically be split 50/50 between the two hosts. Polish venues to have games will be Warsaw, Gdansk, Wroclaw and Poznan. The Ukrainian venues will be Kiev, Lviv, Kharkiv and Donetsk.

 

The final will take place in Kiev which will also hold a semi-final. This will be at the Olimpiysky National Sports Complex which after development will be one of the leading stadia and sporting complexes worldwide. The new stadium in Warsaw is also under construction and guarantees to be a state of the art arena.

 

The draw for the finals has been held and qualifying games will get started just after the 2010 FIFA World Cup. All of the nine group winners and the best runner-up will earn direct entry into the tournament. Following that the other 8 runner-up will be drawn into two-legged playoffs.

 

From Group A you would guess Germany and Turkey would be too solid with Austria and Belgium being the contenders.

Group B looks to be a three way contest between Russia, Slovakia and Ireland.

 

In Group C it looks like it will be comfortable for Italy and Serbia. France is the most likely from Group D with Romania looking at the one to take 2nd.

 

There is a northern European vibe to Group E where it probably will be Netherlands and Sweden.

 

Croatia and Greece are the favorites with regards to Group F as are England and Switzerland for Group G.

 

From Group H it looks like Portugal and Denmark and finally from Group I it would look like Spain and the Czech Republic.

 

Qualifying draws to a close in October 2011 by which time passion and expectancy for the Euro 2012 tournament will be well and truly underway.