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As someone who is not an England fan, following another home nation instead, England’s supporters continue to stagger me with regards to their approach to the national team.
Never was this clearer than from the national outrage at England’s victory over Wales last Tuesday. It’s all you ever hear from England fans – “the manager is useless”, “the players don’t care”, unless of course the side wins by more than two goals at which point they are declared demi-gods.
At some point, England fans will have to accept that the days of easy games in international football have gone. Only Malta and San Marino have lost all their matches during this qualification campaign – teams who had posed no threat before are now picking up points. In particular, former iron curtain countries have shown that they are difficult teams to beat. At international level today, most teams are good at holding their shape, keeping the ball and closing down players. The games are played at a higher intensity than most league matches. That’s part of the reason why they often disappoint as a spectacle.
It is therefore simply wishful thinking amongst England fans to expect to easily defeat every nation they play against. The Wales match was a classic example – a side which could hold their formation well gave England little time and space on the ball and who, through Ramsey and Bale, had a fairly formidable midfield; a team whose drop in the rankings had mostly been precipitated by injuries to their best players and who beat England’s closest rivals Montenegro on Saturday.
Thinking that England could just turn up and they’d score five goals was simply living in dreamland. Those sorts of scores simply aren’t recorded very often in modern international football. England had to play for the three points and that’s exactly what they did, any other nation in Europe would be delighted to have received six points from two games – but not England.
Defeating a side that is definitely on the way up whilst keeping a clean sheet has angered many an England fan and pundit. It is simply burying your head in the sand to the realities of the world of international football.
Take Spain as an example, widely agreed to be the best side in the world. In both their games against Lithuania they carved out a win late on after being held 1-1 for a lot of the match, it took them sixty minutes to score at home against the Czech Republic to come back from a goal down and eventually win 2-1. Furthermore they allowed Scotland to come back from being 2-0 down and were saved by a late defensive error. Were the Spanish moaning about these results? No, they were celebrating a victory against teams who like many on the international circuit are difficult to beat on their day, particularly in front of a partisan home crowd.
If that 1-0 win had been for Manchester United in the Premier League, pundits would be telling us that this is the sign of champions, winning when you’re not playing your best against a side desperate not to lose. Instead we get the usual rubbish about the failings of the players and management team. On the same lines, England’s World Cup record is one frequently bemoaned by its fans, yet England’s consistency in reaching two quarter finals and a second round is beaten only by Spain, Brazil and Germany. Not bad for a country with a “useless manager” and “players who don’t care”.
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