With only one semi-final appearance since winning the World Cup in 1966, can England win it again? Are the players coming through the academies not good enough to enable England to compete beyond the qualification phase or are other teams just simply better at producing quality players? In short, after so many years of hurt can England ever win the World Cup again?
Every English man or woman either remembers or knows all about the 1966 World Cup. Beating West Germany 4-2 in the final, Geoff Hurst’s hat-trick, Bobby Charlton’s thunderbolt against Mexico and many other memories will resonate for years to come. But since then, only one semi-final appearance has come England’s way.
After a successful tournament and moments that will long live in the memory, only a penalty shootout defeat at the hands of the old enemy Germany at Italia ’90 denied England a second appearance in a World Cup final. Some may say Maradona’s antics at Mexico ’86 and some alleged foul play before the quarter final vs West Germany in 1970 cost England further glory, but they are conspiracies and alleged cheating that have been talked about at length for many years already.
Apart from Italia ’90, England’s showings at World Cups could probably be best described as average. Some good wins and performances have gone hand in hand with some bad losses and poor performances. England even failed to qualify for two World Cups, in 1974 and 1994. It’s not that they should have a right to be there, however; at the end of the day if you’re not good enough then you don’t go to the finals.
Over the years there have been several times when fans and pundits alike have shared the view that “this time we have a chance”. And with some of the talent England have had at their disposal, optimism has been high and rightly so. In fact the one time that the nation thought success wouldn’t not be achieved was at the aforementioned 1990 tournament, when after a very poor showing at the European Championships in 1988, when all three group games were lost, England were not really expected to set the World Cup alight.
So what has gone wrong? Is it as mentioned before as simple as the fact that England just aren’t bringing through the quality from the academies to compete? Is it the weight of expectation which hangs heavy around the team’s necks? Should fans just accept that England just aren’t world beaters anymore, be happy with qualifying and hope to put on a decent showing and try and set our targets at qualifying from the group and see where it goes from there? Are there just too many good teams competing for the trophy now? Has the influx of foreigners impacted the English game to an extent where English talent just doesn’t get the game time against top opposition to improve their game and learn?
Maybe it’s a mixture of all the above and even a few other things, but at the moment even though England do have some very good young players and also some good seasoned professionals, maybe at this point in time they just aren’t quite ready to mount a serious attack for a major tournament; although qualification is going well for the European Championship, albeit in a easy group.
And it’s not only fans that hope England do well as when England reach a major tournament, it brings the country together; even those that don’t normally follow football will take an interest and get involved. After the last World Cup, when England were eliminated at the Group Stage, the atmosphere the following day around the country was very negative and shops were very quiet apart from the staff replacing the England merchandise on the shelves.
I hope I’m wrong about England not quite being ready to mount a serious challenge and during the next tournament or two we see real progress being made, but after the 2014 World Cup, expectations are significantly lower.
Can England ever win the World Cup again?
Of course, and hopefully within my lifetime, but didn’t the great Pele once say that an African nation would win the World Cup by 2000? Predictions don’t always work out.
