Big Guns Mis-fire
Both of the teams who appeared in the 2006 World Cup failed to make it past the group stages this time round. Runners-up France finished bottom of Group A after losing their final game 2-1 to hosts South Africa. Though Bafana Bafana did not progress to the knockout stages they can be proud of the quality of their performances in this tournament. Goals from Bongani Khumalo and Katlego Mphela saw them beat the European giants, whose morale issues got the better of them. It was Thierry Henry’s handball that got France to the World Cup, and after that showing it may have been wiser if the Barcelona man hadn’t bothered. Mexico and Uruguay progressed, and have mouth-watering ties with Argentina and South Korea, respectively, to look forward to in the next round.
2006 World Cup winners Italy also finished bottom of their group, managing to be worse than the combined might of Paraguay, Slovakia and New Zealand. Their final game was a 3-2 thriller against Slovakia, Robert Vittek putting the Eastern Europeans two goals up with one in each half. There was a mad rush for goals in the final ten minutes, with Antonio Di Natale pulling one back for the Italians, Kamil Kopunek responding for Slovakia, and Fabio Quagliarella scoring what turned out to be a consolation for the Azzurri. It is not only the first time that the hosts have failed to make it past the opening phase of the tournament, but also the first time that both of the previous cup’s finalists have failed to progress. That both finished bottom of their group only bodes well for potential upsets once the knockout rounds begin.
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Fans of the Three Lions were in familiar territory last night as England and the USA played out a 1-1 draw in the Royal Bafokeng Stadium. A midfield struggling to string passes together and goalkeeping howlers have been features of the English national team for years. From the moment Fabio Capello announced his team selection many knew it was going to be one of those nights. The Gerrard-Lampard debate has been done to death in the stands, the pubs and on the radio talkshows by English football fans. The overwhelming conclusion is that playing England’s two most accomplished attacking midfielders together in deeper central midfield positions does not work. Despite this, the most expensive coach at the World Cup decided to prove his worth by, in the eyes of many fans, making the same mistake as his predecessors.
The game started very well for England. A pass inside intended for Rooney wasn’t controlled by the Manchester United talisman, and the ball ran through to Emile Heskey. He spotted the run of Gerrard and flicked it around the corner. The England captain burst through the USA defence before coolly slotting the ball home. 1-0 to England. The game continued at a high tempo, and was physically competitive, Capello favourite James Milner somehow escaping a yellow card for his late, high challenge. Milner was booked not long after for another rash attempt at a tackle, and this saw him suffer the ignominy of being a first half substitute, replaced by Shaun Wright-Phillips. The USA midfield were far more comfortable on the ball, and their movement pushed England back into their own half of the pitch. They were unlucky not to equalise when Landon Donovan’s lovely cross skimmed past the head of Jozy Altidore. The striker had an impressive season for Hull but probably should have done better.
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Opportunities:
Cardiff City’s academy has to operate under the rules governing all academies or centres of excellence. Under-14 year-old players must live within an hour commute of the ground, whereas Under-16s have an extra half hour’s grace. There are ‘loopholes’ in the system, although these favour the richer clubs.
Families can be relocated with jobs provided, but only wealthy clubs can afford to do this – ironically because they want to avoid paying fees to a smaller club that developed a player. Even clubs like Barcelona – one of the biggest in the world – has lost talent in this manner. Cesc Fàbregas is the most famous player that Catalunya’s top club lost to the English Premier League.
But Barcelona are no angels. They have scouts all over the world – other top clubs do as well – and if they spot a player they believe will make the grade, they too will flex their muscle. This was how the world’s greatest player Lionel Messi left Newell’s Old Boys in his native Argentina in 2000 for Barcelona’s academy – la Masia – a stone’s-throw from the Camp Nou.
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Every Chance:
Cardiff City FC has an academy that is the envy of many Premiership clubs, because of its phenomenal success rate, but Academy Director Neal Ardley – a former professional footballer with many clubs, including Wimbledon – recognises that the majority of young boys that pass through the academy will not have a career in top level football. Still they are given every chance, because Ardley and his talented staff know that young boys need support and develop at different rates.
“For every age group at the end of every season you have a few drop out,” Ardley told us exclusively. “We run development centres. We have nine around the area and what we try and do is develop them and if they need it we try and drop them back into our development centres. We’ve got our coaches running the development centres, so we can keep an eye on them and keep tabs on them.”
As they approach sixteen, hard decisions have to be made. Priorities and education techniques, including on the field change as results become more important – academy football is not results based, but the professional game is. Most will not be offered scholarships, let alone go straight into the first team. So what support can these boys expect at Cardiff?
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Selfish:
Former professional footballer and FA coach Noel Blake has a different outlook to that of the Director of Cardiff City’s academy, Neal Ardley – one he admits is selfish. While academies and centres of excellence just want the best players regardless of nationality or racial origins, Blake wants more from them. He wants English academies to develop English talent.
“From a selfish point of view I wouldn’t want foreign boys to come to the academy anyway in all honesty, because this is England,” he told us exclusively. “Obviously I’ve got a selfish point of view. I want to see English players developed in England. At the appropriate time – senior level – fine, but I don’t think our academies should be encouraging young players from far afield, who can’t play for the national teams, to come to England. I don’t think it’s right.”
So Blake wants English academies to concentrate on developing English players. “Forget that I was working for the FA, because I was saying this before,” he said, “I had a couple of foreign boys in the academy, but they played for their nation. The fact of the matter is as I have said previously and I stand by this statement, I wouldn’t like to see our academies or youth development programme flooded with non-English players, because for me we’ve got to get back into a system where the English players come through our academy system.”
His main concern is ensuring that young English talent comes through and benefits first and foremost from the academies and centres of excellence of English clubs. “My views are in terms of youth development programmes,” said Blake. “I don’t think it would be wise for young players from further afield to be allowed academy places, so I can’t sit here and endorse twenty or so foreign players coming to our academies.”
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