Soccer Coaching Drills

As Spain were crowned World Cup winners in Joburg, the curtain fell on the very first World Cup Tournament to be staged in Africa. European sides completed a 1-2-3 with Spain beating The Netherlands in the final along with Germany getting third place after a 3-2 success over Uruguay.

This just strengthens the case that European football is the best in the world and that the European Championships are a fabulous tournament. Qualifying matches for the Euro 2012 finals will start in September and regardless of finishing 3rd, Germany will, no doubt be among the favourites to win the title. Their more youthful squad provided some splendid football all through the World Cup Tournament with Thomas Muller capturing the Golden Boot with 5 goals and 3 assists. With the help of similar young stars like Ozil, Boateng and Kediera, Germany will be certainly one of the ones to look out for.

As World and European champions, Spain are going to be a tough competitor. The vast majority of their team will still be young enough in 2012 to deliver stiff opposition and they will certainly be ready to defend their title.

Finally the Netherlands were able to abandon their personal egos behind during the World Cup tournament and thus, the Dutch got to their third World Cup final defeating many peoples favourite, Brazil, along the way. With better finishing from Robben, Netherlands may have won the competition as opposed to Spain and they will hope to continue in the same vein during Euro 2012.

The traditionally powerful nations of France, England and Italy all failed miserably in South Africa and consequently, the curtain will most certainly come down on lots of of the older footballers careers. England have a number of impressive young players to bring to the international stage and if they can emulate Germany, there will be increased hopes amongst the English fans.

The Euro 2012 host nations of Poland and Ukraine will both benefit from wonderful support but in the end, they most probably do not have the quality to seriously challenge for the title.

The moment England left these shores for South Africa a few weeks ago, there was much expectation that at long last, the team could bring the trophy home. Nonetheless, 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 effortlessly fail to perform? Not surprisingly, the English media has put together no lack of scape goats and factors for what was England’s worst defeat at a World Cup. There has been sufficient talk about the Italian manager, formations and more but the troubles are a great deal deeper.

Since its formation in 1992, the EPL has achieved terrific success as an international brand. The cost of this success has been felt by English football. Improved TV earnings has forced wages to increase. Consequently this has meant there has been an expanding divide involving club and country. Teams pay their players a great deal of money and are increasingly more reluctant to let their footballers play for their countries.

In turn, footballers get hugely rewarded by Premier League clubs to the extent that success is recognised by securing money-spinning contracts as a substitute for anything they accomplish on the field. Typical players who rarely turn out for their clubs are still millionaires and as these footballers put money ahead of playing matches at club level, there is certainly little doubt they do not have the mental strength or hunger to play international football.

In the past, there was always a regional reserve league which ensured young footballers from smaller clubs may be guaranteed to play versus decent reserve teams from larger teams like Arsenal, Tottenham and Man Utd. Of course, in recent years, the EPL has changed which means they will only play versus other Premiership reserve teams. This means that Championship reserve teams no longer get to play versus EPL sides. For teams like Ipswich Town, it means their reserve team now plays against Stevenage rather than Tottenham and this drop in standard in opposition little doubt has a negative effect on the footballing education of young players.

With such a lot of money on the line, everything is geared to EPL survival. Teams spend fortunes recruiting theoretically better foreign managers and players in a bid to retain their Premiership status. The ambition of promoted teams to the Premier League extends no further than finished 4th bottom. The Premier League cash bonanza means that EPL clubs can give you £1-2m for young players at lower division teams. The footballers are keen to move and secure their financial futures but it may perhaps also signal the finish of their careers. The young Crystal Palace star joined Spurs but barely made an appearance 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 the game. How many more young players careers are cut down like this chasing the money rather than playing the fixture?  Its difficult to blame the young footballers for taking the money.

There is also the popular accusation that teams play too many games in England and more and more managers want a winter break. Even so, footballers don’t look to be tired after asked to fly off to the Usa or Far East on pre-season tours. Or how about England’s friendly game 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, sports cars and trophy wives. Put simply, there is not enough hunger or desire.

The match in Thailand also shows another hassle. In addition to the EPL being a global brand, so are the England team. Supporters want to watch the big Premiership stars play for England and in friendlies like this, those stars will be expected, if not contracted, to turn out.  Having said that, it is not the case that the very best 11 players make the best team. Too a large number of players are in the team based on standing rather than performances. Young players should be promoted into the senior squad sooner.

For the imminent Euro 2012 campaign, England should do away with the services of all players aged 30 or over. None of them have played to their ability in South Africa thus why should we persist with them. It would be far better to promote younger footballers who may still be hungry for success. All the same, while the worshiping of the EPL persists, things are probably not going to get better anytime swiftly.

The old Wembley Stadium was opened up in 1923 and had a track record of for maintaining one of the very best pitches in Britain. Its wide open spaces would sap the power from the legs of even the fittest players. Once the Empire Stadium at long last shut its doors in 2000, the superb pitch was torn up along with the entire stadium.

England supporters had to wait patiently 7 more years until eventually the new Wembley Stadium opened its doors. The new 90,000 seater arena was classed by UEFA as a 5* Elite Arena and is the second largest in Europe after the Nou Camp in Barcelona. The first full international was played against Brazil on 1st June 2007.

The construction of the arena was late and well over budget yet the troubles did not stop there. Operational troubles such as defective escalators on match days were encountered but there is an on-going situation that so far has not be adequately tackled – the pitch.

Playing surfaces at new stadia in general take time to settle down but at Wembley the playing surface is a headache and is undoubtedly 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 because of a defender losing their footing at a critical point as the pitch gave way. By the end of the 2009/2010 season, the grass had been relaid 10 times at an expense of one million pounds and the arena had not even been in operation for 3 years.

Yet, relaying the playing surface every 3 months just isn’t the best solution. The layout of the arena is the reason why the natural conditions of light and wind can’t get to the pitch to boost the pitch to develop. A few stadiums like the one in Gelsenkirchen in Germany is on rollers so between matches, the complete pitch is transferred outside the arena. Other stadia have lots of ventilation in the stands permitting the wind to move around and it is possible to use artificial lights to assist the playing surface to develop.

Regrettably, there are still difficulties and an answer really should be worked out. In September 2010, England start their qualification for Euro 2012 and they are certainly the best team in their group. The one thing England don’t need, is their opponents helped by a sub-standard Wembley pitch. The fixtures at Wembley are supposed to give England home advantage.

The UEFA Euro 2012 Championships  will be jointly hosted by Poland and Ukraine. The event is the final one to be 16 teams as the next one in 2016 will increase to twenty four teams. Poland and Ukraine defeated Italy and Croatia/Hungary for the right to host the competition.

 

The games will basically be split 50/50 between the two hosts. Polish venues 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 have a semi-final. This will be at the Olimpiysky National Sports Complex which after construction will be one of the premier stadiums and sporting complexes anywhere. The new stadium in Warsaw is also being built and guarantees to be a state of the art stadium.

 

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

 

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

Group B looks to be a three way contest with 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 second.

 

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

 

Croatia and Greece are the likely challengers for 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 appear to be Spain and the Czech Republic.

 

Qualifying draws to a close in October 2011 by which time enthusiasm and expectancy for the UEFA Euro 2012 Finals will be well and truly underway.