Why England would not win Euro 2008

The collective sigh of relief in the streets of London to Manchester to Upper Serangoon and Jurong was almost palpable as the penultimate round of qualifying for Euro 2008 drew to a breathless close.

England had survived to fight another day and now require simply not losing against Croatia at Wembley on Wednesday night to secure qualification for next year’s European Championship finals. Simple, considering the fact that Croatia have already qualified and have pretty much nothing to play for, top spot in the group not withstanding. So, England marches on to Austria and Switzerland and lay claim to being one of the favourites to lift the trophy.

Wait. Before you devise grandiose dreams of England glory, consider this. England would have been dead and buried and Steve McClaren’s epitaph freshly inked if Russia had not unceremoniously crumbled to defeat in Tel Aviv. The Hand of GOD? More likely the leg of Israel, or more accurately, the leg of Omer Golan, whose 90th minute winner against the Russians ensured future employment in the land of football’s birth.

However, the cold, hard truth remains. England made hard work of qualifying from a modest group that, with all due respect, is hardly the caliber of potential tournament winners. Surely tougher obstacles lie ahead. If England failed to beat any of the top three teams in their group away from the comforts of Wembley, (drew 0-0 with Israel, lost 2-1 to Russia and 2-0 to Croatia), how could they possibly negotiate the challenge of teams like world champions Italy, France, Spain or Germany, just to name a few teams that are technically vastly superior to the aforementioned trio of teams England failed to defeat.

I opined when McClaren was appointed England head coach that he was not the man for the job and after his team’s treacherous qualifying campaign, I have not changed my mind. McClaren’s only saving grace comes in the form of England’s imminent qualification for the finals, which saved him from being branded “he’s worse than Graham Taylor”. (Taylor failed to guide England to the World Cup in 1994, the last time England failed to qualify for a major international tournament.) McClaren simply does not have the tactical acumen and know-how to guide England to their first success since the glory year of 1966. When England played their best football during qualification, Gareth Barry sat alongside Steven Gerrard, anchoring the midfield, allowing the Liverpool captain the chance to do what he does best, breaking from midfield to score or support the strikers. Tactical genius? Hardly. It was only through a wretched run of injuries that forced McClaren to play Barry in midfield.

This midfield conundrum is nothing new. McClaren’s predecessor, the languid Swede, Sven Goran Erickson, persisted obstinately to pair Gerrard and Frank Lampard in central midfield, a move that was destined to fail spectacularly. Both players like to break forward from midfield, leaving England shorn of defensive cover and shape in midfield. Instead of forging a partnership that looks mouth-watering on paper, the pair instead stifled each other’s play and deprived England of shape and fluidity. It is a warning that McClaren is unlikely to heed. Already, he is contemplating bringing Lampard back into the fold, and ludicrously, shifting Gerrard onto the right wing to accommodate the Chelsea man. Even Gerrard’s club manager, Rafael Benitez, the tinker-man that he is, has ceased to play the Liverpool skipper on the right. Gerrard’s importance, and influence from central midfield is immense (remember Istanbul and Cardiff?) and he needs someone like Barry or Manchester United’s Owen Hargreaves to sit in midfield to allow him the freedom to break forward from midfield, where he is at his devastating best. It is high time McClaren has the moral courage to consign Lampard to the substitutes’ bench. Surely the team’s success takes precedence over reputation and ego?

It is galling that one of England’s joint top scorers during qualifying cannot command a regular starting berth at club level. If you have not yet already guessed, Liverpool’s lanky, beanpole striker, Peter Crouch, has top-scored for England during qualifying with four goals, alongside former Liverpool star Michael Owen. (The current top scorer in qualifying is Northern Ireland’s David Healy with 13 goals, breaking a twelve-year record held in European Championship qualifiers held by the legendary Croatian striker, Davor Suker.)

The statistics don’t lie. England has scored a pastry 17 goals in 11 qualifiers thus far, with the majority of the goals coming against the might of Macedonia, Estonia and Andorra. Owen remains England’s most potent goal threat, with 40 goals in 85 England caps making him the fourth highest England scorer of all time. However, it is no coincidence that Owen’s four goals in qualifying came while Wayne Rooney was sidelined with injury. It is one of football’s worst kept secrets that Owen is most effective having a big man playing alongside him, holding up the ball and knocking little balls to which the diminutive hit-man can utilize his pace to get behind defenses. That was why Owen prospered in Liverpool, having the much -maligned Emile Heskey playing alongside him. It is also why current Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce was so quick to bring Mark Viduka to the north-east club.

Do not be mistaken. Wayne Rooney is an exceptional player, the one player who is most likely to produce a moment of genius to unlock opposing defenses in an otherwise too often workman-like England side. Therein lies England’s attacking paradox. Rooney likes to play in deep-lying positions, the proverbial “ hole “ if you would, and is unlikely to offer the target man that Owen’s predatory instincts prerequisite. The Manchester United star’s international goal-scoring record hardly sets any pulses racing either. Bar from an exceptional goal- scoring run at the last European Championship finals before his forced retirement from the tournament derailed England’s glory quest, Rooney has hit just 14 goals in 40 appearances for England.
Crouch, on the other hand, has 13 goals in just 23 appearances for England. Admittedly, the bulk of Crouch’s goals have come against the lesser lights of European football and it is debatable if the awkward 2 meter tall giant has the technical ability to score against the higher echelons of European football, although it must be argued that he has vast experience and a more than enviable scoring record in the Champions League with Liverpool.

They say great players adjust and adapt to different styles and patterns of play and there is no doubt that both Rooney and Owen are great players in their own right but the evidence is damning. Who partnered Owen when he scored his 4 goals during qualifying? Peter Crouch and Emile Hesky, and Owen looked none the less distressed by Rooney’s absence.

McClaren must find a way to accommodate both Rooney’s genius and Owen’s propensity to excel with a target man playing alongside him. There is still time before the tournament begins with earnest for the pair to really gel and form a telepathic understanding in order for the goals to flow while Crouch remains a useful alternative from the bench. If not, England’s goal woes look set to continue.

The supply lines do not herald a glut of goals for England’s front-line either. While the French has the likes of Florent Malouda and Frank Ribery, the Dutch have Ryan Babel and Arjen Robben, the Spanish have Joaquin and David Silva and the Portuguese have Christiano Ronaldo and Ricardo Querasma, England’s flanks reek of mediocrity. Joe Cole remains England’s most creative outlet out wide however he tends to drift infield too often, leaving England’s width on the left to be filled by Cole’s club-mate and namesake, Ashley Cole, which inadvertently equates to England’s vulnerability to the counter-attack. On the right, Shaun Wright Phillips and Aaron Lennon lacks consistency and the temperament to perform at the highest level while David Beckham is a fading force, despite his obvious handiness at set pieces.
England’s defense is decent, led by the indefatigable captain John Terry although keeper Paul Robinson remains susceptible to a howler now and then. (Just don’t mention Croatia)

Still, England does not bore the hallmarks of potential champions, not with the way they are playing, which presents a crystal clear synopsis on why England have failed to progress beyond the quarter-finals of any major competition since the European Championships was held in England in 1996. Is it because of incompetent managers? Is it because of a mental condition that continues to plague the England team and causes them to “freeze” when it comes to the crunch? Is it complacency stemming from English teams’ successes in European club football?

England have more then enough talent in their ranks to get the point they require against Croatia to qualify for the finals and if they fail to do so, it would indeed be a football travesty although unlike many, I would not feel sorry and aggrieved should England fail to do so. Unlike their British neighbours, Scotland and Northern Ireland, who have fought gallantly and admirably to attempt to reach the finals with much lesser talents than those under England’s disposal, England were expected to breeze through their qualifying group.

For Scotland and their Tartan army, the dream ended in tears with defeat to world champions Italy in controversial fashion in a rain-sodden Hampden Park while Northern Ireland’s diminishing hopes were kept flickering by the record-breaking Fulham striker, David Healy. For these two teams, they were expected to be cannon fodder for other teams in their groups. Instead, Scotland pushed Italy and France all the way in a quite memorable qualifying campaign, culminating in home and away victories against the French. Northern Ireland, long rubbished and ridiculed as no-hopers, beat Spain, Sweden and Denmark en route to a slim chance of overhauling Sweden on the last day of qualifying to join Spain into the finals. They may yet fail but what epitomized Northern Ireland and Scotland’s qualifying campaign is the heart and never-say-die attitude that saw both teams rise above adversity and perform beyond expectations and in all honesty, natural ability.

This, in a nutshell, is what England is lacking sorely. While the talent is obvious, England is about a team of overpaid individuals, spoilt by superstar status at club level and not a cohesive unit attuned to an insatiable hunger for success. I may yet be proved wrong but I again see England as no more than a quarterfinals team. I just do not see enough England players having the mettle and bottle to sustain a championship push and England’s cause certainly would receive no boast from the glaringly inadequate tactics and inflexibility of Steve McClaren.

Still think England can be crowned European champions? I say don’t bet on it.