Well it’s happened.
The less-than-minnows of world football (Iceland) have defeated the wanna-be giants (England).
It’s not the first time England have under performed in a big tournament. But normally their exit has been at the hands of more experienced and, on paper, more ‘worthy’ opponents.
More:
» England crash out of Euros
» Icelandic commentator delivers more gold against England
» Roy Hodgson resigns in wake of defeat
This time, the more worthy opponent was Iceland. And they won. Why?
I believe it comes down to expectations and how they are managed.
The expectations of:
– The nation
– The coach
– The players themselves
– The press
Let’s look at England, and their expectations:
The nation has expectations; huge expectations. Unrealistically high expectations, and they always have been. Matching this are the coach’s expectations, and while he has a good record, he was naive in expecting a young team of over-paid ‘super-stars’ to bond and play as a team.
They player’s expectations are harder to judge, but perhaps there was a ‘we’re better than them’ attitude, particularly with Iceland.
Now to the immeasurable press’ expectations. Everyone in the England Football press loves drama, and to be honest, they’ve made their living scribing the misfortunes of the national team. Nothing’s changed. They wanted England to win, but probably expected some sort of mishap.
Let’s look at Iceland, and their expectations:
They had already exceeded their nation’s expectations just by qualifying.
The coach’s expectations were realistic and steadfast. Play hard. Win the 50-50s. Out-effort the opposition.
His players believed they could beat England.
The press expected to be going home, but wanted the fairytale to continue.
Now let’s look at the English Rugby team for a moment. At the beginning of the year, they were rock-bottom. Knocked out of their own World Cup, in eighth spot in the world rankings.
Step-up Eddie Jones. A coach who made his expectations and ambitions for the team very very clear.
– We want to be the number one team in the world.
– We want to achieve a 3-0 whitewash down-under against Australia.
To achieve this, Eddie commanded and demanded the respect from his players. He picked a team built on doing the basics really well. He balanced experience with youth.
Most importantly – he set his expectations for the team, and they’ve risen to them.
Perhaps the England football team needs to consider doing the same.
– Setting a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) of being a world super-power in International soccer.
– Setting a time period to achieve so as to mediate short-term expectations of all concerned.
– Setting a plan on how to do this. This will include re-looking at the money-spinning EPL and balancing it’s success against the ambitions of the national team.
– Getting a hard-nosed, ambitious coach to drive them towards this.
– Developing a squad that is built around a resilient core of hard-nosed, experienced players, and then blending this with the exuberance and freshness of youth.
Da Spoon
Guest
There are British Managers with a history of success in the EPL. Notably Alex Ferguson who walked all over his foreign contemporaries for the whole of his career. The EPL has produced great teams in the past and English teams are high on the list of all time number of wins the UEFA Champions League/European cup which I believe is the pinnacle of football. Those team's success was built on home grown players - The Liverpool side of 80's and Man Utd of the 90's and early 2000's which included Scholes, Giggs (Welsh), Beckham et-al. Since then, EPL has failed to develop players, preferring to buy them in something which the fans don't seem to mind. That is until England fail at international level. I watch the EPL games every week and they are highly entertaining compared to the international game. The same players that shine in the EPL then fail international level but 8 of the top 10 all time scorers in the EPL are from the home nations so they have outscored their foreign imports over the years - This ability just doesn't get transferred to the more technically perfect and organized international game. Things wont improve until some sort of priority is given to building a well organized England team made up of players that play together regularly. I cant see that happening any time soon. May be they should have appointed Jose to manage the squad.
Mark
Guest
Its more than expectations The players believe they are better than they are and thus don't put in the hard yards necessary to be successful Further appointing a manager just because he is English is beyond stupid There are no English managers with any history of success and even less with any tactical nous Until the players realise they actually have to work for it and England appoint a manager as smart and Conte they haven't a hope To start with - get rid of players like Rooney and Hart (and Wilshere) - both of them are toxic - they are beyond arrogant with their self importance (witness their comments pre and post tournament) and have over inflated opinions of their abilities (why did Rooney demand to be a midfielder?)
Mick Gibson
Roar Rookie
You're right. Money talks and national pride doesnt :) And perhaps the softening of the Pound may lead to more homegrown talent getting exposed as top-paid-stars look elsewhere.
DaSpoon
Guest
The English national team doesn't even play at the level of an English Championship side. There is no organisation and the team is thrown together and managed by a second rate has been. EPL starts in a few weeks and the current embarrassment will soon be forgotten as Soon as the Brexit Not sure the foreign players make the home players look better. They are either good enough or they aren't and if you aren't you won't last long in the EPL. It's by far the richest league in the world with an income of £3.5billion (about 50 USD post Brexit. The big business that is the EPL is not interested in the national side and other than a few weeks every 2 years neither are the fans in England. May be the reduction in foreign nationals entering the UK post Brexit will allow home players to develop more. But it won't be good for the EPL. We want the Messis and Ronaldos here.
13th man
Guest
Getting an Australian coach is a good start it seems...
Mark
Guest
The cold, hard truth is that the English development system is not producing enough world class players and the few at the top EPL clubs are made to look better than they are by the foreigners around them. The overarching goal for football in England at the moment seems to be growth of the EPL. Developing players for the national team is an afterthought. EPL clubs owned by foreigners, with foreign managers, have no interest in developing players for the England national team. All of the England players playing in the EPL, and never having played in a league outside of England, is another problem. There is not enough diversity of football experience among the team.