FIFA World Cup 2010: Why England Always Fail at International Football

There's been lots of talk about why England fail at the higher levels of International Football, with the focus of Platini and Beckenbauer on the amount of 'foreigners' in England. Typically the accusations are leveled at clubs in the top flight, and Arsenal in particular. Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United all have their fair share of foreigners (whilst also having academies stocked with young English talent). So why are the teams with the higher percentages of foreigners also the teams who do best in the Premier League?

It's easy to blame foreigners for the problem, and very easy for a certain type of Englishman to be xenophobic.

Let's first consider some factors in the development of English players:

Youngsters are made to play on a full-sized pitch very early. Seven or eight years old is not unheard of. They're encouraged to believe that passion and belief will win them games, with the focus removed from skills. They're taught to run everywhere at speed - at the opposition players, to tackle them - with the focus not on the ball but on the opposition players.

English youngsters learning football have demonstrations from a very early age that anger and belligerence are acceptable (witness Wayne Rooney's archetypal aggressive behaviour or players surrounding and intimidating the referee). Behaviour reinforced by parents who happily and loudly abuse the officials.

At an early age they are rarely taught close ball skill, or to focus on and play the ball. Their fitness regime seems antiquated in comparison to many other countries training.

These things are the English way, and most players coming through the ranks have this behaviour and teaching inculcated into them from a very early age.

Those precious few who are plucked from obscurity into the youth system of a large club may make the transition (if they join a club whose focus is different and who follow a more 'european' model), but the few who do are very few indeed.

There is another aspect of the English character that stifles progress. Youngsters who do begin to make inroads and demonstrate that they may have a burgeoning talent - let's pick Theo Walcott and Aaron Lennon as examples - are mercilessly pilloried when they make mistakes. They're called talentless (by commentators who never had that level of skill) and written off. Writing players off is not a uniquely English trait, but it is a prevalent one.

Let's also look at the make-up of the team to see where failure may lie.

The team is mostly made up of 'experienced' players. Those who have featured in multiple matches at the highest level. It is rare for youth to break through. The current England manager Fabio Capello, made it known that he would always pick players based on current form over those with more experience, but perhaps whose form was not the greatest.

Immediately prior to his team choice Capello had a long phone call with the FA, the published result of which was his extended contract. Whilst I have no inside knowledge of that call, I will speculate that he was 'encouraged' to pick the experienced players, who 'everybody knows'. That's fair speculation because it is largely what he did. Whether it was his decision only, or whether he was indeed coerced is immaterial. He chose based on experience at International Level, and not purely form. He also chose a traditional tactical model with lack of flexibility.

Capello has however a win percentage at International level of 71.4% - higher than any other England manager. He controlled and managed a group of disperate players who have at least a little (and at most, a lot) of the prima-donna about them. Players with egos that are difficult to control, especially by someone who is not paying their wages, and whose experience will not influence anything that takes place in their 'day jobs' (i.e. at their clubs). Many England managers have tried and failed to control those egos, and Capello seemed to have largely succeeded, until the start of this World Cup.

Capello is not the only international manager who has had to face over-inflated egos: Raymond Domenech, not as strong in character as Capello, failed completely to control his players. It may also be true to say however that age has something to do with this ego-full behaviour. Certainly the younger players of Germany are posing no such problems to Joachim Loew.

I will put an alternative view, for balance, one that I disagree with entirely - that the presence of foreign talent in the EPL leaves little room for English players to play at the highest level. This is patently absurd. If the English talent was good enough, they would get in the teams - and they do. Frank Lampard, John Terry and Ashley Cole are regulars in the Chelsea side that won the title this year. Wayne Rooney has been in sparkling form for his club this year and is of course a regular in the second place Manchester United side.

Why do those players, with a fair mix of others from Liverpool and Tottenham, fail to perform at International Level. Those who feature in the top tier of English football for their clubs cannot be said to have 'failed to break through', or to have 'not enough experience at the highest level'. Is there a behaviour that is so ingrained in their playing psyche that, once removed from the proper constraints of their club style, breaks down all pretense of football-as-it-should-be-played. That may be a stretch to believe.

Watching the EPL every week you will see much of the same style that England have played with - inflexible, aggressive and with a focus on tackling the man instead of playing with the ball. Those few teams in the EPL who dare to try to be different are often kicked off the field. Something which is tolerated in England, but not outside.

This is a conundrum though - who can deny that English teams cannot beat European opposition? English teams, apart from this last year, have dominated the Champions League for some time. The same English teams who have a large foreign contingent co-incidentally. The same English teams who try to play a less traditionally English style.

The answer.

There is no simple answer - sorry if you were expecting me to postulate one. There is a very complicated web of ingrained beliefs and behaviours that are very difficult (but not impossible) to change. They will not be changed by restrictive quotas forcing English players into the top teams. They will only be changed by the leadership at the FA and Premier League wanting to see a change. Whilst those organizations make huge amounts of money from the game, they will not however, jeopardize their cash-cow.

In summary, the situation will not change unless the heads of the top football organisations in England want change. They have the power and the money to make it happen - though it would not be easy or short term.