Gareth Southgate-The Unlikely Hero
"It's coming home", a 1996 single was released to commemorate England hosting Euros in 1996.The song was intended to poke fun at continuous failures of England's football team post 1966 world cup which they have won on their home soil. Now the same song has been used as a rallying cry by English fans to push their team prospects. Post their eventual exit from the tournament at the hands of the Croatian team in the semis of World cup 2018, both the English team and fans were mocked through the phrase "we are coming home". They have been subject of various trolls and memes. Yet the Chant "It's Coming Home" represents a new found sense of optimism in English fans and now they are once again looking forward into the future.
For a nation that calls it itself home to football and also hosts the richest football league England's performance in major tournaments over the period of last two decades have been hugely disappointing. Talent was never an issue. England produced some of the finest footballers the world has seen during this time.Beckham, Scholes, Gerrard, Lampard among the few. They won almost everything at Club level, yet at International level they failed miserably.
Mismanagement ,Club rivalries among stars are some of often quoted reasons for their failure.Still to this day debates happen to why "Golden Generation" couldn't succeed.This Repeated failures of so-called Golden Generation has quashed hopes of many English fans who wished for silverware. After each failure the weight of the shirt further grew,ultimately making representing England a Hell rather than a Dream.
This Team led by Southgate have reached Semis of a World cup,won a penalty shoot out and most importantly played football like they enjoyed it.
Southgate played every minute of Euros 1996 where England has reached the Semis. He was something different from previous managers of England including Fabio Capello, Sam Allardyce, Roy Hodgson, all of whom had considerable experience and success in the managerial careers. Southgate was relatively novice compared to these. He started his managerial career at Middlesbrough where he had a decent success in initial years. However he ended up relegating with them.
Post the Sam Allardyce circus, appointment of Southgate as manager of England's national team was met with sense of apathy and criticism. Some were apathetic because they didn't think it would matter who is in charge as the eventual disappointment would follow. Some were critics who argued that Southgate lacked experience to manage the Three Lions.
It's fair to say both these sections of people were proved wrong and by the man who was least expected to do so.
First thing Southgate successfully did was weeding out Wayne Rooney. Although one of the world's elite in his peak years, in his later years he has become a burden for both his club and nation. His exit was smooth announced by his timely retirement making things easier for Southgate.
Next thing Southgate succesfully brought to the table was a sense of adventurism .England were often accused of playing in a rigid way and with less flair. The Restructuring started from the back and Southgate employed people who were comfortable on the ball. This meant the likes of Smalling,Cahill were to be left off. Next in the midfield around a single pivot he employed two number 10's/8's which ever way u want to see it. For Once the onus was on attack rather than defence. The result was flurry of goals. After a long time in a major tourney felt like England actually can play football.
Perhaps Southgate has also provided an answer to how England could have incorporated Scholes,Gerrard,Lampard in a single team through his own version of Henderson,Alli,Lingard. His much inferior trio has outperformed what could have been one of the greatest midfield trio. Probably they missed a Southgate then.
Without a doubt one of the factors that aided England's run to semis have been a relatively easier list of fixtures.However for a country that lost to Iceland and failed to win a single group game in previous world cup,this excuse cannot be used to undermine the achievement of Southgate's team.
For once ,in a long time English team are coming back home from a major tourney with people satisfied and looking forward to the future. Southgate's present situation has parallels with Joachim low 2010 when an inexperienced team of Germany lost out to eventual winners Spain in the semi finals.Four years later in Brazil ,Germany won the worldcup. England can do something similar and the abundance of talent coming from U21 and U17's,both of whom have won the recent World Cup's in their age divisions meant English football is definitely on the rise again.
However it isn't going to be easy.In Bundesliga,Germany's national league the young german footballers have a well laid down path to their club teams. Their transition from junior teams to first teams have been relatively smooth and as a result German team is brimmed with talent. On Contrast English Premier League Clubs are stocked with cash and prefer proved foreign imports over homegrown talents for immediate success. As a result many of English bright talents are relegated to benches or have to settle with loans to smaller clubs .This means the bright talent pool of U17 and U21 world cup winners could go waste. The FA has huge role to play to ensure that this talented crop isn't going to waste.
England have once failed to make use of their Golden Generation.Now another Golden Era reckons.This World Cup Semis either could be gateway to that era or may serve as a reminder of what England could have done.It will be up to FA and for once it looks like they a right man at helm.
For Southgate this is an opportunity to become English Legend. His Performances at next Euros and World Cup could decide that. For Now he is the reason of joy and optimism in the English.
For a nation that calls it itself home to football and also hosts the richest football league England's performance in major tournaments over the period of last two decades have been hugely disappointing. Talent was never an issue. England produced some of the finest footballers the world has seen during this time.Beckham, Scholes, Gerrard, Lampard among the few. They won almost everything at Club level, yet at International level they failed miserably.
Mismanagement ,Club rivalries among stars are some of often quoted reasons for their failure.Still to this day debates happen to why "Golden Generation" couldn't succeed.This Repeated failures of so-called Golden Generation has quashed hopes of many English fans who wished for silverware. After each failure the weight of the shirt further grew,ultimately making representing England a Hell rather than a Dream.
This Team led by Southgate have reached Semis of a World cup,won a penalty shoot out and most importantly played football like they enjoyed it.
Southgate played every minute of Euros 1996 where England has reached the Semis. He was something different from previous managers of England including Fabio Capello, Sam Allardyce, Roy Hodgson, all of whom had considerable experience and success in the managerial careers. Southgate was relatively novice compared to these. He started his managerial career at Middlesbrough where he had a decent success in initial years. However he ended up relegating with them.
Post the Sam Allardyce circus, appointment of Southgate as manager of England's national team was met with sense of apathy and criticism. Some were apathetic because they didn't think it would matter who is in charge as the eventual disappointment would follow. Some were critics who argued that Southgate lacked experience to manage the Three Lions.
It's fair to say both these sections of people were proved wrong and by the man who was least expected to do so.
First thing Southgate successfully did was weeding out Wayne Rooney. Although one of the world's elite in his peak years, in his later years he has become a burden for both his club and nation. His exit was smooth announced by his timely retirement making things easier for Southgate.
Next thing Southgate succesfully brought to the table was a sense of adventurism .England were often accused of playing in a rigid way and with less flair. The Restructuring started from the back and Southgate employed people who were comfortable on the ball. This meant the likes of Smalling,Cahill were to be left off. Next in the midfield around a single pivot he employed two number 10's/8's which ever way u want to see it. For Once the onus was on attack rather than defence. The result was flurry of goals. After a long time in a major tourney felt like England actually can play football.
Perhaps Southgate has also provided an answer to how England could have incorporated Scholes,Gerrard,Lampard in a single team through his own version of Henderson,Alli,Lingard. His much inferior trio has outperformed what could have been one of the greatest midfield trio. Probably they missed a Southgate then.
Without a doubt one of the factors that aided England's run to semis have been a relatively easier list of fixtures.However for a country that lost to Iceland and failed to win a single group game in previous world cup,this excuse cannot be used to undermine the achievement of Southgate's team.
For once ,in a long time English team are coming back home from a major tourney with people satisfied and looking forward to the future. Southgate's present situation has parallels with Joachim low 2010 when an inexperienced team of Germany lost out to eventual winners Spain in the semi finals.Four years later in Brazil ,Germany won the worldcup. England can do something similar and the abundance of talent coming from U21 and U17's,both of whom have won the recent World Cup's in their age divisions meant English football is definitely on the rise again.
However it isn't going to be easy.In Bundesliga,Germany's national league the young german footballers have a well laid down path to their club teams. Their transition from junior teams to first teams have been relatively smooth and as a result German team is brimmed with talent. On Contrast English Premier League Clubs are stocked with cash and prefer proved foreign imports over homegrown talents for immediate success. As a result many of English bright talents are relegated to benches or have to settle with loans to smaller clubs .This means the bright talent pool of U17 and U21 world cup winners could go waste. The FA has huge role to play to ensure that this talented crop isn't going to waste.
England have once failed to make use of their Golden Generation.Now another Golden Era reckons.This World Cup Semis either could be gateway to that era or may serve as a reminder of what England could have done.It will be up to FA and for once it looks like they a right man at helm.
For Southgate this is an opportunity to become English Legend. His Performances at next Euros and World Cup could decide that. For Now he is the reason of joy and optimism in the English.
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