The Premier League's Exit From the Champions League Is Good for England

On April 6 and 7, an event happened in English football that had not happened in seven years.

That event was the elimination of Arsenal (against Barcelona) and Manchester United (against Bayern Munich) from the UEFA Champions League, marking the first time since 2003 that a club from England did not advance onto the semifinals in Europe's premier club competition.

Overall, the 2009-2010 season in the Champions League campaign, it has not gone well for any English sides.

It all started in the Group Stage, where Liverpool were eliminated by Lyon and Fiorentina, and carried on into Round of 16 where Inter Milan eliminated Chelsea 3-1 on aggregate.

And now Arsenal and Manchester United are out.

But to me, it actually is a good thing for England that these four sides are out of the Champions League.

The first reason why I believe this is the injury bug, which of course hit Wayne Rooney in Man United's first leg quarterfinal loss to Bayern Munich.

An injury to Rooney is a terrible development for England due to how important he is to the national team, but Rooney being the warrior that he is, decided to play in the second leg and left early due to the injury getting reaggravated.

But Rooney will be back for the Manchester Derby at Eastlands despite the injury on April 17.

Also, a player such as England captain Rio Ferdinand, who has had injury problems all season long, cannot continue to play so much for his own health.

The second reason why I believe Premier League leaving the Champions League so early is that it will help these players get some time off.

Instead of having a major European tie in Munich or in Milan, you will instead get more time to focus on your Premier League matchups and get more rest instead of having extra training sessions.

With that, players will be at a better fitness level for the World Cup, which always is a major plus.

The third reason why it's helpful that Premier League sides are out of the Champions League is that despite the great level of play in the Champions League, you will still be able to play against many players in the world with the Premier League being one of the best leagues in the world.

So now the players on the English National Team could focus on playing against the best in upcoming Premier League fixtures, which could only help out England in the World Cup.

And my fourth and final reason is that I believe that no Premier League clubs left in the Champions League is a good thing is that with this being a World Cup year, all of the players will be able to work together from the beginning of training for the National Team through the World Cup.

In a time with the World Cup starting for England just 21 days after the Champions League final, the entire English National Team has to spend as much time as possible as a unit to get into their best position possible to win their first World Cup since 1966.