Tim Sansom takes a look at how the fixture congestion created by the extensive domestic game could just cost England’s ‘Golden Generation’ glory again in 2010.
Life is certainly busy in the newspapers in June 2009, whether at Westminster or in the Britain’s Got Talent studio, but fast forward yourself to June 2010. There is a chance that your mind will (hopefully) be focused on the England team and the World Cup. Memories of World Cup qualifiers will (hopefully) be a distant memory, and England will (hopefully) play well and (hopefully) survive further than a quarter final penalty shootout.
You have to do a lot of ‘hoping’ with England and it is different to gauge the chances of this team against the crème de la crème of world football talent after two matches against Kazakhstan and Andorra. There were some bright signs against Croatia last September, although in the aftermath of the defeat against Spain last February, Fabio Capello was right to highlight that his team had a (‘hopefully’ fairly) long way to go to challenge at the world’s football top table.
If England get to South Africa, hope will spring eternal from every burst water main in the nation. The nation will be buzzing with excitement, and the flags of St George will be fluttering out of cars and buildings. You have to hope that Rooney, Gerrard, and the rest of this nation’s finest football players will do themselves justice on the world stage.
In a recent newspaper article, Gerrard notes that the 2010 World Cup may be his last chance to shine across the world. It is doubtful whether certain other players will be remotely automatic choices for the national team if England can qualify for the 2014 tournament in Brazil. During the past decade, some of us have talked about the ‘golden generation,’ and next year may be the last year to see this group of players, before they decamp to the Championship, League One and Two, the commentary booth, the shining lights of the TV studio or the manager’s dugout.
So how are we as a nation, and the self proclaimed birthplace of football preparing ourselves for the biggest football tournament in the world? We are cramming a multitude of matches into an even shorter space of time, and you worry that the excuses are already being tentatively dusted down.
Picture the scene. The England flags are taken down, and more ‘years of hurt’ are being added to the never ending tally after England misses the crucial penalty in the quarter final against (say) Portugal or Germany. As Ronaldo or Bastian Schweinsteiger collapse into an orgy of celebration, we catch Frank Lampard wiping away a tear in front of the camera, to tell us that they have had nothing to give after a physically exhausting season.
The argument will start in a very British sarcastic way. It will be something on the lines of ‘they (the players) earn millions of pounds, and they are tired! Poor loves!’ There will be some fans who suggest that ‘back in their day,’ it was quite normal for teams to play games on consecutive days, and it is easy to find evidence. If the calendar fell a particular way, it would be not unusual for teams to play games on Boxing Day, 27th December and New Years Eve. This fixture list was still evident in 1982 and 1983.
There is also evidence that subsequent campaigns by England teams have failed to reach the level that was expected by the players. We know the song of ‘Three Lions on the shirt, Jules Rimet still gleaming,’ but it is does not seem a new problem that England may have been mentally and physically exhausted in every major football tournament in my lifetime. The only exceptions are the 1990 World Cup and Euro 96 (although you wonder whether that team was particular enjoying the adrenalin of constant home advantage.)
The fixtures will come out in a couple of weeks. There will be the added attraction of an enhanced Europa League which seems to have as much fizz as flat champagne, or as much excitement as the earlier rounds of the Champions League tournament. We will pour over the tables, whilst mentally wondering how we will cross the country on a cold and wet Tuesday night in December to catch a sight of a beloved team.
There will be great matches to enjoy on the same par as some of the fixtures that occurred between 2008 and 2009, but I cannot help wondering whether we will be gorging on the action between August and May, and there will be nothing left to enjoy during June and July. I don’t want to be depressing but don’t say that I did not warn you.
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