England’s decisive win this week against Spain speaks volumes.
For years, England’s national football team has disappointed its fans. How ironic it is, too! The country’s pro league, Barclays Premier, is broadly considered to be the best in the world.
Playing in Barclays is every footballer’s dream. The facilities are out of this world, there is great competitiveness, and the fan atmosphere is unmatched.
And while there’s a league rule that each Premier League team must include at least five English players, that rule hasn’t yielded expected results when it comes to the English National Football team.
Still, though, the league’s top teams boasted world-class players from England. Tottenham Hotspur had Darren Bent. Chelsea had John Terry, Ashley Cole, and Frank Lampard. Manchester United had Paul Scholes, Rio Ferdinand, and Wayne Rooney. Liverpool and Everton had Steven Gerrard and Ross Barkley, respectively. Which coach wouldn’t win a World Cup with this star-studded dressing room? But even with all that talent, these players didn’t bring glory to their national team.
Heartbreak was the outcome. There were Group Stage knockouts in 2010 and 2014. And after winning the World Cup in 1966, the best Englanders could do was finish fourth in 1990 and, again, in 2018.
But the current crop of English players looks promising, indeed! I predict that 30+ years of underperforming is about to end. Monday night England beat Spain, 3-2, in UEFA Nations League play. And it wasn’t just that the Three Lions won, it was how they did it–by dominating.
In so doing, Coach Gareth Southgate’s side showed that it wasn’t by fluke that they qualified for the 2018 World Cup semi-finals.
I think what we’re about to witness the resurgence of England’s National Team.
