The World Cup is a load of balls
Friday, July 2, 2010 at 1:00PM The World Cup hasn't exactly been great. One or two half-memorable games, a couple of stonking goals, but it's not going to look amazing in around 10-20 years time when we look back on it. At least at the time of writing.
It would be rather comforting to blame Blatter and his obsession with having to change something fundamental about the game in the lead up to the biggest, grandest footballing tournament of them all. Every single sodding time. The Jambulani is without doubt his crowning moment of lunacy. Not that I'm completely blaming the ball for the lack of the sexy football. Although it doesn't help when half of the players out in SA struggle to weight the ball when attempting to thread it. It's got more bounce than a kangaroo on a trampoline.
But then again, many are not struggling to get to grips with it, so you can discuss and argue amongst yourselves if its down to individual ability to adapt to FIFA's Blatterisms. Nobody is really truly complaining about it any more, then again, the various football associations have probably been instructed by FIFA to make sure the correct directive is followed and nobody mentions 'the ball'. It's not the ball. What ball?
The reality is nobody can do a thing about it and it hasn't stopped some teams from smashing up other teams by making sure the only bouncing the Jambulani does is in the back of the net.
Might be wrong with this*, but the FA rejected using the Jambulani because of their contract with Nike. You'd think knowing its going to be used at the WC (the likes of Germany were using it in the Bundesliga), we'd do our best to do anything to get the players in the best condition possible, and that would have involved using the new ball in the lead up to it. But God forbid we put football ahead of money.
*If I am, let me know.
Regardless, of this, we still have the issue of the quality of football played and it's lack of tempo and excitement. Is it because there is no longer a massive gap between the nations once considered giants and the ones seen as being weak? Players cancelling each other out? Defending deep, avoiding risk? Is it now more important not to lose than it is to win? Are the super-star players scared somehow or just not as bothered, maybe even arrogant to a degree? Or are the alleged 'weak' the ones that no longer lose the game before the national anthems are finished. No more fear for the supposed giants.
It's one thing the lesser sides sitting back and defending with all their might, but if you have quality in abundance, surely you should be doing your utmost to display it? I guess we can all be sucked into believing the hype. No matter our nationality.
You could also argue about TV rights and how it controls football. Too much money in the game. Too much money for players who don't need to be anywhere near world-class to be earning untold thousands per week. No winter break in England. Tired legs. But then that's all just bollocks. Hasn't stopped one or two non-English Prem based players from impressing in SA. And some of the best players in the world, as rich as they are, continue to display unparalleled commitment to the cause - wanting and needing to impress and win.
All of the above has been carefully coated with a touch of glossy knee-jerk. The WC might just about be ready to explode with the Q-F's and the only negative thing we might remember about 2010 is when the Germans humiliated the English. Negative for some, funny for the rest.
As for England. Fabio - in the space of two games (USA and Algeria) went from having unconditional support from the red tops to apparently being tactically inept. Although the press appear to have ever so slightly backed off now (probably because the FA and Capello will not be parting any time soon) and decided that the majority of the blame should sit with the players. Specifically; Ashley Cole, Ledley King, Aaron Lennon for their lack of respect post-exit. Hmm. Let's also all forget about the truly guilty ones out on the pitch. You know, the darling buds of May. It's black and white to me.
So what of the players?
We failed in 2006, we didn't even qualify for the European Championships in 2008 and we were woeful in 2010. More or less the same group of players, with a few changes here and there. There's a pattern, I can't quite put my finger on it. Golden generation, you say?
Modern day footballers, English ones, appear to lack that edge, that drive we've seen in the past. At least when playing with 3 Lions on their shirt. This current batch appeared to have little desire to win. To want to play for their country. Whether there is any truth in the stories of a fragmented camp or not, well, I guess if there were battles between egos then that just about sums it up. Vanity before country.
Could you imagine this ever occurring in the distant past? Where is the sacrifice? Where is the honour? There is no collective. Just individuals. Football will eat itself.
Roy Keane said our so called backbone (apart from possibly two) have had distinctively average seasons. And the player we hoped would lead us to glory (Rooney, one of the two, Milner the other) has so far failed to be overly convincing on the big stage. But still, we believe. It's what we do as supporters. And it's what the media do, with their building up to knock 'em down ethics. How dare you failed, we said you wouldn't!
And when they (the players) don't quite believe in it all, then there's no great shock when they go home early. Hence the cigar smoking and beers. We are no longer wired up in the right way. Therefore, no great need to look absolutely devastated when departing the competition early. At the moment playing for country is no longer as important than playing for club. So perhaps we should be placing an equal amount of effort in supporting these players who are meant to be representing us as they do failing to represent us when playing. They appeared to be content, happy it was all over. The truth will out, maybe.
An attitude adjustment is required. That and perhaps the acknowledgement that we should play to our strengths. Honestly, Fabio, our players don't get anything other than 100% full blooded 1000mph football. We'll know when we've got our England back when we can visibly see the intensity in the players eyes and in their application on the pitch.
With regards to Harry Redknapp telling all he would accept the England job if offered it, don't fret (from a Spurs perspective). England is England and I see no harm with him saying what he said. Mainly because in no uncertain terms he knows he will never be offered the job. Sells a few papers does Harry.
Feel free to knee-jerk with me.
Roll on the Euros.
Reader Comments (31)
Club over country for fans, it's the same for players. Money over glory for the vast majority of them but I don't think that was our problem. No money, definitely egos. And it will all be covered up and glossed over once again.
I'm knee jerking with you Spooky.
I think its fair to say that football is eating itself, from the world cup down....a few refreshing things and many things to admire but watching us fail, watching Portugal, with so much talent trying to kill the game vs Brazil, watching France abuse their stolen privileges....it leaves me cold.....I've never been one to harp on about the money the players earn but maybe just maybe im starting to think that its a problem. The one overiding memory for me for this entire world cup has been listening to EVERYONE in all forms of media neglect to point out that "Our Stevie" (quite possibly the most over rated player we have) was at fault for the goal that Dempsey scored against us for the US. I've watched him give up on situations like that for years only for everyone else to get the blame.
On a separate note.....Is the new away kit possibly the one on the mail that THFC sent out today? The picture advertising our new "training wear" shows bentley in a short sleeved number that is not actually for sale on the site......i quite like it.
Anyhoo......roll on Saturdays (?) draw and the new season
Keep up the fab work spooky
COYMFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ABH! ABH! ABH!
I'm just content that this blog refuses to eat itself. Nice afternoon read.
I'm bored of England now. I'm starting to buzz about THFC and season 2010/11.
i dont think it helped that Inter won on the biggest club stage with anit football. a point i think that may be important to look at. possibly demonstrating how to win this year.
England do need to go back to basics... The best thing that can happen is for us to not qualify for the next Euros or World Cup, get rid of the older players that don't perform, realign the public's expectations, then try again for the 2016 Euros with a team that can actually play together, and the 2010 WC (which we'll hopefully host - cue red tops saying "Last time we hosted, we won!")...
Maybe we should follow the Nigerian's lead? We can always buy our way back into Football tournaments in a few years by selling 'A Night With Goldenballs' to the dirty old men of FIFA...
When you strip it down to basics the real problem with England is the FA itself.
From the farce with the ball, to appointing and re-appointing Capello (if the BBC are correct that the FA cannot afford to sack him). To allowing top English players to play so many matches in a season. And to protecting West Ham from being where Sheff Utd. are now.
The FA is a comfortable club for walllies and only requires them to recruit Sep Blatter for them to have a full set!!
It's been said a thousand times already - get rid of the old guard. Gerrard, Lampard, players living off club form who do no impress for country. Its about time we had the foresight to take a risk in how we manage our national team. Get a young group of players and build for the future. Enough with this perpetual wet-dreaming.
Capello, Hoddle, Big Sam, Curbishley...ABH! ABH!
*Thanks Yidango!
By the way Spooks I think you've invested too much of your valuable time on the good ship England?
Dear Mr Blatter?
Everybody plays like the Germans used to play ... except for the Germans themselves and the Argentine machine ...
The news doing the rounds, although who knows if it's true, just thought I’d pass it on..... and why not ?
This is the same source which had the JT / Wayne Bridge story 2 days before the story broke:
Courts upheld a further 2 week gagging order on Steve Gerrard's private life, turns out he got his wife's sister pregnant (not the 16 year old) and she wants to keep the baby. Will hit the newspapers within 14 days, the judge upheld the gagging order to protect FA while they decide on Capello, and the future of English footy…
John Terry and the England squad all knew about it and JT had a argument with Capello because Gerrard got to keep the captains armband. The tension in the camp was down to half the team saying Gerrard was a disgrace and the other half of the squad backing Gerrard. The press conference was related to the tension and JT wanted Gerrard exposed - they hate each other…
Coincidently, Paddy Power have just released odds of 13/8 that Gerard and his wife will be the next couple to separate ?
Also apparently Rooney was caught out with a brass pre tournament, press kept it quiet, hence Rooney playing crap, but now they're home .......??
I don’t know who Heskey and Green were shagging…
Could be a load of bull though, perhaps leaked from the mouth of the Palermo President...
This WC showed us that the old Countries can't cut in any more , mainly due to arrogance , old age and a bad team spirit
We also learned that most NT coaches are most of all scared of losing. The south american teams being the exception. And they play well , not becaus the other teams are tired, but because of the fact that they play with pride and skill. Not just running but good vista , good passing and trickery
I can tell you that we Belgians used to be at every WC (great achievement for such a small country) because of our spirit and fysical strength. According to our early youth coaches the best players were just the tall ones that could run and were strong. Trickery and skill was frowned upon , running was the thing.
What happened was that when Bosman won and the borders opened for outside talents , we noticed that our youth was worth absolutely nothing. They could tackle, hoof balls and head like crazy but they needed 5 minutes to control a ball , everybody had just one good foot and driblling or short passing was out of the question.
So we went to Holland, Protugal , France and South Korea/Japan to see what they were doing and surprise , surprise they learn the youngsters how to play ball on small terrains with small goals , fast combinations and if a boy has soms tricks they teach him how to make em effective. We needed to change to whole approach towards training young players. Bring the skills and the trickery back , make football attractive and fun.
We are now seeing the rewards because the youth teams are achieving again on a international level , lots of youngsters go abroad to finish their training and our NT is very young but finally they know how to play in stead of just running like a zokora clone (who incidentally used to play in Belgium so that explains a lot)
To make a long story short : You guys have such massive potential , moneywise , populationwise (lots of different etnic groups and lots of inhabitants) and the passion for the game is huge. BUT the time to change the youth training has come
France has done it with succes in the 90's , Germany has done it , Spain has done it ... Holland has always done it like that
England needs to follow
Hoop, blame the lack of ITK rumours to keep me occupied.
Rupert Murdoch, the whole planet has heard the story, its just a rehash of the same story that has been doing the rounds for almost 7 months now. Ignore.
i'm so over the world cup....its dead to me....especially as my spurs review of the season dvd arrived today (£10 & free P&P from amazon)...roll on 14th August 2010.
Capello is staying on as England boss. Harry will be gutted.
Very nice piece belgian spur.
You make some very good points concerning youth.
Australia by average age had one of the oldest squads at this WC. A very heavy relience on players like Kewell, Cahill, Neill, Emerton and Schwarzer. Not that any of them played badly, but looking ahead to 2014, unless they are replaced by progressive, young talent, we, Australia, simply won't be there.
As you have stated, a lot of the Asian countries in our qualifications zone, have superior youth policies. Particularly the Japanese who are going ahead at a rate of knots. So much so that by 2018, all things being equal, they maybe serious challengers for a WC final place.
England and Italy, who are acknowleged football giants, would also need to follow the progressive youth policy, given their results in 2010.
Yesterday's Heroes are heroes no more.
COYS
The reason we're bidding for the 2018 WC is so that we can change the format to include OPP fucking.
Looks like the ABH lobby worked...
I blame the ball.
I can see how the World Cup wouldn't be much fun if you are English because your football is a disgrace.
Note to Spooky and others: it's called WORLD cup, not ENGLISH cup.
England barely qualifies as a footnote in it.
You are lucky it was only 4-1 against Germany.
Also as English folk you are blind to the reality that the only team playing like a team--the only team that should restore your faith in football--if you can get beyond prejudices is Germany.
Jogi Low and his squad play football the way it's meant to be played. England--and the rest of the world for that matter--should start figuring out how to learn from Germany.
I realize a triple post is obnoxious but since I'm out on this ledge ... it strikes me as sad that some of you are hating on this WC. It makes me wonder what some of you are thinking.
Yes the WC is disgusting on many levels and it really is kind of an afterthought where impetuous children like C Ronaldo throw little hissy fits and play like half-hearted primadonnas before they go home to hols and waning mediocrity at their own clubs. But at least the World Cup at it's best isn't about money. Or at least it isn't ONLY ABOUT MONEY.
But yeah it's been crap. Gee, I can't wait until all this sideshow is over so we can go back to cheering for a bunch of international prostitutes and over-rated useless chavs competing in a money-dominated league! But wait, there's more: CL here we come!!!!
I do love Spurs with all my heart but I'm seriously thinking of devoting a little more energy to following the Bundesliga where it seems like some actual football is going on. Or at least where it isn't all about how much you can spend. (Citeh are about to take that to a new level.)
Of course I'll probably change my mind soon. But it's going to take awhile to get the taste of England's crap performance out of my mouth.
I think its going to take quite a while to get rid of all of the crap from your mouth septic
Sorry, but where did I state exactly that this WC is shit because England got knocked out early? Perhaps you need to go back and watch prior WC finals, compare, then return for a more thorough discussion.
Also - I did hint it would explode in the QFs, which it's managed to do. So happy days.
Fair enough on all accounts spooky. I apologize for my off-base rants. Clearly unfair and off-topic on my part. Onward and upward.
Nope, not at all. You can say and do as you wish, guv. Some of us do need to be taken down a peg or two. Don't change your ways. But just make sure you aim and fire at the right target ;)