English domination…but not quite
This year has seen the top four English Premier League sides all reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Manchester United beat Roma last nite 0 - 2 in Rome, and are almost certain to be able to book a place in the semis when the Italians visit Old Trafford.
Arsenal face Liverpool tonight at the Emirates in an all English tie, and Chelsea face Fenerbahce in Istanbul.
So, the fact that 4 of the 8 teams in the final stages of the competition are English just shows the strength of the Premier League. Now it really can call itself the best league in the world, and it would be correct in doing so. With great players and high attendances, the Premier League is the ultimate dream for every aspiring footballer, whatever nationality they may be.
Why then is the English national team lying in a miserable 11th place in the world, and persistently producing displays that are capable of sending people to sleep?
What you have to bear in mind, is that only about 30% of the Premiership’s players are English, and so many foreign players are being taught, coached and guided by English clubs and their facilities. Consequently, there are not enough spaces for a large amount of English players to be playing at the highest level in their country, especially when teams like Arsenal are often fielding an eleven without one single English player.
You could assume that the players making up the English team are simply not good enough then. But that doesn’t really go down with me to be honest. If you look player by player in the national squad, then you will see players that are always playing for their clubs at the highest level, some are even these clubs best players. For example; Gerrard, Lampard, Rooney, Owen, Ferdinand and Cole. The big names just keep on coming.
And also, the English team now have one of the world’s most highly rated managers in world football in Fabio Capello.
I think the reason why England are so poor, is because they are made of players that are more interested in playing for their clubs than their country. They can easily live off their huge Premier League salaries and not give two hoots about their national duties.
I think its unfair just to say there is no effort at all from these stars when it comes to playing for England, it’s just the motivation is not quite there. It’s a shame how a country can sustain the world’s greatest league with the world’s greatest players, but really struggle when it comes to the International side of the game.
Surely, their needs to be a limit on the number of foreign players playing for these rich Premier League sides…But as long as the League keeps making heep loads of cash, then why would anybody at the FA change anything? After all, there were plans made for making the Premier League even less English, and to play games all over the world.
Somehow, when it comes to Internationals, England need to sort themselves out, and I hope the new Italian manager Fabio Capello can do just that.
Admittedly, its nice seeing so called “English” teams dominate such a huge competition like the Champions League, but wouldn’t you rather boast about the successes of our national team?
Tags: alloutsport, arsenal, capello, champions, chelsea, club, cole, england, english, fa, fabio, fc, fenerbahce, ferdinand, Football, gerrard, international, italian, lampard, league, liverpool, manager, manchester, money, national, owen, premier, premiership, roma, rooney, team, uefa, united
