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England never had a proud
international history before the 1966 World Cup. No one really knows
much about the days before.
Players such as Stanley Matthews, Billy Wright and Jimmy Greaves were
all big stars, but mostly for their achievements in club fooball.
The legendary Geoff Hurst, who scored three goals in the final had just
been introduced to the international schene. He made his England debut
earlier in that year and was called into action when first choice Jimmy
Greaves was injured.
The team of 66 will and shall be remembered for a great achievement, but
they might have given the "Three Lions" and England a difficult path to
follow.
France, who won the 1998 World Cup, Greece and Denmark who both have
managed to win the European Championships never used their fantastic
wins as a "stamp" that all new managers running their national teams has
to copy.
The way England use their 1966 World Cup win again and again when times
are close to a new World Cup tournament is a bit strange. They like to
look back, and keep good old memories close to their heart instead of
thinking forward.
The fact that England has been coached by a Swede and an Italian makes
you think what on earth is going on. Brazil and Argentina, Italy and
France would never let a foreign coach run their national team, that
would a tragedy.
There are really no clear English candidates either, and that is a shame.
England should be coached by an Englishman no matter what.
Fabio Capello is a great coach, but he has no experience from the
international schene and the way he picked his squad and the way he
handled the pressure in South Africe made this a learning curve for the
64 year old.
So what will the future bring ?
Capello has a number of good young English footballers to bring forward,
and Wayne Rooney will last for at least two more World Cup's.
Behind him there are a number of youngsters that can take become huge
England stars, but they need to be given a chance to play regular
Premier League football and be involved in Europe.
The new regulations with a 25 men squad and 8 home grown players is a
start to give younger players from England a chance to develop. It will
also stop a massive import of players from other countries.
This will also give former footballers and people with ambitions a
chance to actually work in youth academies and be proud. A coach that
can bring forward young players and really see his work paying off, is a
coach counting how many of his pupils that gets a career at the highest
level.
Holland has in the past been good in the work of bringing forward young
talent, and they are also giving former international players great
credit and recognition when training youngsters.
England is a good footballing nation, but they should never be
disapointed if they reach the World Cup and not wins it. They are one of
a group of 8 to 10 nations to be able to win, but their former World Cup
win should not be used against them whenever a team fails to win.
44 years is enough, let's look forward and see a new and good group of
players progress, and hopefully they will be reaching new finals without
being called idiots when they fail, becuase it's not a bad thing to
qualify for the World Cup, and reached 2nd stage, not even for England,
who has nothing else than the 1966 World Cup to talk about.
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