Soccer Footwork Drills

As the Spanish were crowned World Cup winners in Soccer City, the curtain fell on the very first FIFA World Cup to be organised in Africa. European nations fulfilled a 1-2-3 with Spain beating The Netherlands in the World Cup final together with Germany getting third place after a 3-2 win over Uruguay.

This truly reinforces the discussion that European football is the most effective in the world and that the European Championships are a terrific tournament. Qualifying matches for the Euro 2012 finals starts in Sept and although finishing 3rd, Germany are going to be one of the favourites to win the title. Their young squad provided some fantastic football all through the World Cup Finals with Thomas Muller getting the Golden Boot with five goals and three assists. With the help of various other young stars like Ozil, Boateng and Kediera, Germany will be among the ones to beat.

As World and European champions, Spain will be yet another extremely tough opponent. A lot of their team will still be young enough in 2012 to supply solid opposition and they will certainly be willing to defend their title.

Finally the Netherlands managed to abandon their personal egos behind at the World Cup tournament and for that reason, they made it to their third World Cup final conquering quite a few peoples favourite, Brazil, along the way. With more clinical shooting from Robben, the Netherlands may perhaps have won the match instead of Spain and they will aim to carry on in the same vein during Euro 2012.

The typically powerful teams of France, England and Italy all failed miserably in South Africa and as a result, the curtain will surely come down on a number of of the older players careers. England have a number of exciting young players to deliver to the international stage and if they can copy the Germans, there will be huge hopes within the English supporters.

The Euro 2012 host nations of Poland and Ukraine will both see overwhelming support but ultimately, they in all probability accomplish not have the quality to seriously challenge for the title.

The minute England departed these shores for South Africa a few weeks ago, there was much anticipation that at long last, the football team could very well bring the trophy home. Of course, that dream was destroyed in no uncertain terms by the old enemy Germany in Bloemfontein as England crashed out of the competition losing 4-1. How could possibly such an experienced team who qualified so easily fail to perform? Not surprisingly, the English media has produced no shortage of scape goats and reasons for what was England’s heaviest defeat at a World Cup. There has been plenty of talk about the Italian manager, formations and more but the problems are a lot deeper.

Since its formation in 1992, the EPL has achieved wonderful success as an international brand. The cost of this success has been felt by English football. Greater television earnings has forced wages to increase. Subsequently this has meant there has been a growing divide involving club and country. Clubs pay their footballers a great deal of money and are more and more unwilling to let their players play for their countries.

In return, players get hugely rewarded by EPL clubs to the extent that success is categorized by securing valuable contracts as opposed to anything they achieve on the field. Regular players who rarely turn out for their clubs are still millionaires and the instant these footballers put money ahead of playing matches at club level, there is little doubt they do not have the mental strength or hunger to play international football.

Traditionally, there was always a regional reserve league which meant young players from lower league clubs could be guaranteed playing versus decent reserve teams from more established teams like Arsenal, Spurs and Manchester United. Even so, in recent years, the EPL has changed so they will only play versus other EPL reserve teams. This means that Championship reserve teams no longer get to play versus Premier League sides. For teams like Ipswich Town, it means their reserve team now plays against Stevenage rather than Tottenham Hotspurs and this drop in standard in opposition certainly has a negative effect on the footballing education of young players.

With so much money on the line, everything is tailored for EPL survival. Clubs spend large amounts of money securing apparently first-class foreign managers and footballers in a bid to hold on to their EPL status. The ambition of promoted teams to the Premier League extends no further than finished 4th bottom. The EPL cash bonanza means that EPL clubs can provide you with £1-2m for young footballers at lower division sides. The players are eager to move and secure their financial futures but it may also signal the end of their careers. The young Crystal Palace star joined Tottenham Hotspurs but scarcely played and was last heard of on loan at Brentford, a league lower than when he was at Crystal Palace. From a football mind-set, Bostock would have been best served staying at Palace and learning his trade. How many more young players careers are cut down like this pursuing the money as an alternative to playing the fixture?  Its difficult to blame the young players for taking the money.

There is also the familiar accusation that clubs play too many games in England and an increasing number of managers want a winter break. However, footballers don’t seem to be tired the minute asked to fly off to the Usa or Far East on pre-season trips. Or how about England’s friendly fixture next June away in Thailand?

There are simply too many ready made excuses for failure that footballers are ready to accept. They live a life well away from the real world with their mansions, expensive cars and trophy wives. Basically, there is not enough hunger or desire.

The match in Thailand also illustrates another headache. Not to mention the EPL being a global brand, so are the England team. Supporters want to see the big Premiership stars play for England and in friendly matches like this, those stars will be expected, if not contracted, to turn out.  Yet, it is not the case that the best 11 footballers make the very best team. Too a great many footballers are in the team based on track record rather than performances. Young players should be promoted into the senior squad sooner.

For the upcoming Euro 2012 campaign, England should do away with the services of all players aged 30 or over. None of them have played well in South Africa therefore why should England persevere with them. It would be more effective to promote younger footballers who may still be hungry for success. Of course, while the worshiping of the Premiership continues, things are not going to get better anytime very quickly.

The old Wembley Arena was opened in 1923 and had a track record of for offering one of the highest quality playing surfaces in Britain. Its wide open spaces would drain the power from the legs of even the fittest players. When the Empire Stadium eventually sealed its doors in 2000, the magnificent playing surface was torn up along with the entire stadium.

England supporters had to wait 7 long years until the new Wembley Stadium opened its doors. The new 90,000 seater stadium was classed by UEFA as a 5* Elite Stadium and is the second biggest in Europe after the Nou Camp in Barcelona. The initial full international took place against Brazil on 1st June 2007.

The construction of the stadium was delayed and well over budget yet the difficulties didn’t finish there. Operational troubles such as defective escalators on match days were experienced but there is a continuing situation that at this point has not be sufficiently answered – the playing surface.

Pitches at brand new stadia regularly require adequate time to settle down but at Wembley the playing surface is an issue and is undeniably one of the worst around. It cuts up far too easily and players lose their footing too often. In a recent FA Cup semi final, at least one of the goals was due to a player slipping at a crucial second as the playing surface gave way. By the end of the 2009/2010 season, the grass had been relaid 10 times at a price of one million pounds and the arena had not even been in operation for 3 years.

The truth is, relaying the pitch every 3 months just isn’t the solution. The design of the stadium prevents the natural conditions of light and wind can’t get to the playing surface to encourage the grass to grow. Some stadiums similar to the one in Gelsenkirchen in Germany is on rollers so in between games, the whole pitch is transferred out of the stadium. Other stadia have a lot of air flow in the stands to permit the air to flow and it is possible to use artificial lights to encourage the grass to develop.

Regrettably, there are still challenges and a fix really ought to be found. In September 2010, England launch their qualification for Euro 2012 and they are definitely the best team in their group. The one thing England do not need, is the other team aided by a low quality Wembley playing surface. The fixtures at Wembley are meant to give England home advantage.

The Euro 2012 Championships  will be jointly hosted by Poland and Ukraine. The event is the last one to be sixteen teams as the future one in 2016 will broaden to twenty four teams. Poland and Ukraine overcome Italy and Croatia/Hungary for the right to host the competition.

 

The games will basically be split 50/50 between the two hosts. Polish cities to put on matches will be Warsaw, Gdansk, Wroclaw and Poznan. The Ukrainian towns will be Kiev, Lviv, Kharkiv and Donetsk.

 

The final will take place in Kiev which will also hold a semi-final. This will be at the Olimpiysky National Sports Complex which after construction will be one of the premier stadia and sporting complexes across the globe. The new arena in Warsaw is also under construction and guarantees to be a state of the art venue.

 

The draw for the championships has been carried out and qualifying games will commence following the 2010 FIFA World Cup. All of the nine group winners and the best runner-up will attain direct entry into the competition. Following that the other 8 runner-up will be drawn into two-legged playoffs.

 

From Group A you would believe Germany and Turkey would be too resilient with Austria and Belgium being the contenders.

Group B looks to be a 3 way competition between Russia, Slovakia and Ireland.

 

In Group C it looks like it will be simple for Italy and Serbia. France is the most likely from Group D with Romania looking at the one to take 2nd.

 

There is a northern European feel to Group E where it really should be Netherlands and Sweden.

 

Croatia and Greece are the likely challengers with regards to Group F as are England and Switzerland for Group G.

 

From Group H it looks like Portugal and Denmark and in conclusion from Group I it would look like Spain and the Czech Republic.

 

Qualifying concludes in October 2011 by which time hype and anticipation for the Euro 2012 tournament will be well and truly underway.