Jose Mourinho Would Be a Fantastic Manager for the English National Team

Last night, it was reported by ESPN that Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho could possibly move away from the Bernabeu to Wembley Stadium to replace Fabio Capello.

Capello will leave England after this summer's Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine, which means that one of the most pressure-filled jobs in all of football will be open. There have been rumors that Tottenham Hotspur boss Harry Redknapp would replace Capello this summer.

Of course, Mourinho has been one of football's top managers in the last decade. Mourinho won the UEFA Champions Leagues with two different clubs, a UEFA Cup with FC Porto, two Englsih Premier League titles and completed the only treble of Serie A, the Coppa Italia and the Champions League with Inter Milan, in 2010.

Currently Mourinho is in charge of a Real Madrid side that was able to win the Copa del Rey last season and advanced to the Champions League semifinal in his first year at the club. Madrid are also ahead of arch-rival FC Barcelona to win La Liga this season.

Now, Mourinho is certainly among the best bosses in football. But a move to England would arguably be the biggest and best move of his career.

Even though Mourinho has never managed an international football team, this move would be a massive coup for the FA.

If Mourinho were to join, there would be more fan interest put onto a national team that has disappointed throughout the last several years.

Of course, many people throughout England already know the fiery personality that Mourinho possesses. These fans would most likely approve of Mourinho's work and knowing his winning pedigree, they would support Mourniho.

The move to England would also fit well into Mourinho's plans to jump from club to club. Mourinho is a football vagabond; he never stays with a certain club for more than a few years.

Taking charge of a national team is a commitment that is normally for a short period of time. Since Bobby Robson left the national team, only one of England's nine managers since then, Sven-Goran Erickson, has stayed in the national setup for more than four years.

Of course, choosing the manager of England has long been a problem. For generations, England only chose domestic managers to run their national team, often resulting in disappointment.

Just look at how England has done under Erickson and Capello. Each man has managed the squad to at least a 60 percent winning percentage, something that only three other England managers have been able to do.

The reason is that both Erickson and Capello take parts of the European game that have not been implemented by the English national team and correctly teach them to English players.

No wonder that England has qualified for every major international tournament that both Erickson and Capello have been with the national team for; they don't go back to the traditional English style of kick-and-rush.

Now if a traditional English manager were to be hired (much like Steve McClaren was after Erickson left in 2006), England would regress from the European style that is superior to the English style of winning games.

No wonder we have seen European nations performing so well in World Cup's in recent years. Since the 2006 World Cup, only one western European nation has lost in the knockout stage to a nation that is not from western Europe.

That nation that lost was Switzerland to Ukraine in a scoreless match that Ukraine went on to win on penalties.

In Euro 2008, three of the four nations that reached the semifinal had managers that came from Western Europe. The only manager that did not come from Western Europe was Turkey's Faitih Terim. Terim's Turkish side reached the semifinals because they wont three straight matches thanks to their exploits in the final minutes of matches.

Turkey decided to use an American fitness coach to train their players—something that Germany used in the 2006 World Cup to increase the fitness of their players.

In the 2010 World Cup, the only nation that reached the semifinals of the World Cup that was not from Western Europe was Uruguay. Yet Uruguay never defeated a European nation in the tournament, losing to both the Netherlands and Germany along with drawing with a dysfunctional French side in the group stage.

When you look at FIFA's World Rankings, you can see that the top three nations in the rankings: Spain, the Netherlands and Germany.

All three of these nations are in Western Europe, and all three of these nations were in the semifinals of the last World Cup. The European footballing network is certainly set in these three countries mainly due to the strong qualities that each of these nations possesses, along with some incredible players.

England does sit fifth in those same rankings, but will never become a top nation in international football if they decide to hire a domestic manager. Right now England is at a critical stage with many of their long-term starters probably going into international retirement after Euro 2012, and an English manager should not be acceptable by any fan, no matter how nationalistic they are.

An English manager should not be considered for the national team position for as long as it takes for England to effectively play their football like the best nations in Europe and wins by doing so.

Granted, this could take a long period of time but this strategy is important for the development of the English program.

Someone like Jose Mourinho is an acceptable manager at this point for England. He has managed some of the top players from all three of Europe's best footballing countries within the last two years, including Wesley Sneijder, Iker Casillas, Mesut Ozil and other world class talent.

This does not include his time at Chelsea where he managed some of England's best, along with international stars such as Arjen Robben and Petr Cech.

Mourinho knows how to bring clubs to the next level and does bring England their best chance of winning any sort of international title.

For everyone involved, having Mourinho running the national team is the best option for England.

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