Coach Youth Soccer

The minute England left these shores for South Africa a few weeks ago, there was much hope that finally, England could possibly bring the trophy home. However, that dream was destroyed in no uncertain terms by the old enemy Germany in Bloemfontein as England crashed out of the competition losing 4-1. How could such an experienced team who qualified so easily fail to perform? Not surprisingly, the English media has come up with no shortage of scape goats and factors for what was England’s worst defeat at a World Cup. There has been lots of talk about the Italian manager, formations and more but the difficulties are much deeper.

Since its formation in 1992, the Premiership has achieved superb success as an international brand. The cost of this success has been felt by English football. Higher TV money has pushed wages to rise. Subsequently this has meant there has been a developing divide involving club and country. Clubs pay their footballers a lot of money and are more and more reluctant to let their footballers turn out for their countries.

In turn, players get massively rewarded by Premiership clubs to the extent that success is deemed by getting valuable contracts and not anything they achieve on the field. Mediocre footballers 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 certainly little doubt they do not have the mental strength or hunger to play international football.

Traditionally, there was always a regional reserve league which meant young footballers from smaller clubs could well be guaranteed to play against decent reserve teams from bigger teams like Arsenal, Tottenham and Man Utd. Bear in mind, in recent years, the EPL has changed thus they will only play against other Premiership reserve teams. This means that Championship reserve clubs no longer get to play versus Premier League sides. For teams like Ipswich Town, it means their reserve team now plays versus Stevenage as opposed to Tottenham and this drop in standard in opposition obviously has a negative effect on the learning curve of young players.

With so much money on the line, things are targeted at Premiership survival. Clubs spend large sums of money securing allegedly better foreign managers and footballers in a bid to hold on to their Premier League status. The ambition of promoted clubs to the EPL extends no further than finished 4th bottom. The Premiership cash bonanza means that Premiership clubs can feature £1-2m for young footballers at lower league clubs. The players are happy to move and secure their financial futures but it may well also signal the conclude of their careers. The young Crystal Palace star signed for Spurs but rarely played and was last heard of on loan at Brentford, a league lower than when he was at Palace. From a football mind-set, Bostock would have been best served staying at Palace and learning the game. How many more young players careers are cut down like this following the money as opposed to playing the match?  It’s difficult to blame the young players for taking the money.

There is also the familiar accusation that clubs take part in too many matches in England and increasingly more managers want a winter break. Bear in mind, footballers don’t appear to be tired as asked to fly off to the Usa or Far East on pre-season trips. Or how about England’s friendly game next June away in Thailand?

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

The game in Thailand also highlights another issue. As well as the Premiership being an international brand, so are the England team. Supporters want to view the big EPL stars play for England and in friendly matches like this, those stars will be expected, if not contracted, to turn out.  Nevertheless, it is not the case that the finest 11 players make the best team. Too many footballers are in the team based on track record of rather than performances. Young players should be promoted into the senior squad sooner.

For the imminent Euro 2012 campaign, England should do away with the services of all footballers aged 30 or over. None of them have played well in South Africa therefore why should England persevere with them. It would be far better to promote younger footballers who may still be hungry for success. Yet, while the worshiping of the EPL carries on, things are not going to improve anytime very quickly.

The old Wembley Arena was first used in 1923 and had a track record for having one of the most admired pitches in the UK. Its wide open spaces would drain the power from the legs of even the fittest players. When the Empire Stadium finally shut its doors in 2000, the superb pitch was torn up along with the entire stadium.

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

The construction of the arena was late and well over budget and the troubles did not stop there. Operational difficulties like the faulty escalators on match days were encountered but there is an on-going issue that to date has not be sufficiently resolved – the pitch.

Pitches at brand new stadia normally take time to settle down but at Wembley the pitch is a problem and is most definitely 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 because of a defender slipping at a crucial moment as the playing surface gave way. By the conclusion of the 2009/2010 season, the grass had been relaid 10 times at an expense of a million pounds and the stadium had not even been in operation for 3 years.

The truth is, relaying the pitch every 3 months is not actually the best solution. The layout of the arena prevents the natural conditions of light and wind can’t get to the pitch to inspire the grass to grow. A few stadiums such as the one in Gelsenkirchen in Germany is on rollers so in between matches, the complete pitch is transferred outside the stadium. Other stadiums have sufficient ventilation in the stands allowing the wind to flow and it is possible to use artificial lights to assist the grass to develop.

Regretably, there are still complications and a fix must be worked out. In September 2010, England launch their qualification for Euro 2012 and they are without question the top team in their group. The one thing England do not need, is the other team aided by a poor quality Wembley playing surface. The games at Wembley are intended to give England home advantage.

The Euro 2012 Championships  will be jointly hosted by Poland and Ukraine. The competition is the last one to be 16 teams as the subsequent one in 2016 will expand to twenty four teams. Poland and Ukraine defeated Italy and Croatia/Hungary for the right to have the tournament.

 

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

 

The final will take place in Kiev which will also have a semi-final. This will be at the Olimpiysky National Sports Complex which after construction will be one of the best stadia and sporting complexes across the globe. The new stadium in Warsaw is also being built and promises to be a state of the art arena.

 

The draw for the competition has been done and qualifying games will get started just after the 2010 World Cup. Each of the nine group winners and the best runner-up will gain direct entry into the championships. Following that the other eight runner-up will be drawn into two-legged playoffs.

 

From Group A you would have reason to believe Germany and Turkey would be too formidable with Austria and Belgium being the contenders.

Group B looks to be a 3 way battle involving Russia, Slovakia and Ireland.

 

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

 

There is a northern European feel to Group E where it ought to be Netherlands and Sweden.

 

Croatia and Greece are the favorites in terms of Group F as are England and Switzerland for Group G.

 

From Group H it looks like Portugal and Denmark and lastly from Group I it would appear to be Spain and the Czech Republic.

 

Qualifying ends in October 2011 by which time passion and expectation for the Euro 2012 tournament will be well and truly underway.