England seems forever caught in-between (a) the deeply-held belief that it is --by birthright and capabilities-- the one country that should rule international football, and (b) some form of artificial self-deprecation and self-loathing. The latter seems to be merely a mechanism of self-protection, however. While England fans never say that they think their team can win it, they do in fact firmly believe precisely that. This belief then gets stoked up by the first decent result and the country rapidly approaches hyperventilation. Of course, they then inexplicably lose on penalties and everybody pretends to have seen it coming all along (decrying fate or foreign cheats) instead of blaming the overhyped and overpaid dimwits from the self-proclaimed best league in the world.
Having said that, England does indeed field a fine selection of experienced world-class players (Rooney, Terry, Lampard, Gerrard, A. Cole) who have played on this stage before and are firmly aware of the fact that for the most of them this year is the last chance to win the biggest prize there is. Furthermore, they have one of the greatest managers in the history of European football. In other words: England should be confident for a reason and not belittle their chances.
The U.S., on the other hand, are much more straightforward in their approach. Apart from clinging on to the idea that Donovan is a world-class player, they know exactly who they are: an athletic and hardworking team with good goalkeepers and poor pedigree. They should have beaten Germany in 2002 and maybe this victory against one of the big guns would have changed things, but the current team is still on the same level as, say, Slovenia, which is not a bad thing as Slovenia, too, has a decent team.
Yet, this healthy self-assessment is profoundly at odds with the more general American self-understanding as the greatest nation on earth. As mentioned before, however, there's also a belief within the American team that they can upset England. I think that's due to the many U.S. players competing in the Premiership who know that their English peers are not invincible or, excuse the pun, "out of their league."
I don't want to say anything negative about Stevie G because I dislike him so much and I fear to reverse-jinx him into playing a great World Cup. Cappello, of course, demands the greatest respect, and I believe that it will be his leadership that gives England not only the edge over the U.S., but also a great chance to reach the semi-finals.
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What's wrong with Gerrard? Apart from his terrible taste in music, of course.
ReplyDeleteThe US is better than Slovenia. That doesn't mean we'll qualify ahead of them, but Slovenia is another tier below us. Their impressive results include a playoff win over Russia (aided by the referee and Russia *just* missing about a dozen goals) and qualifying out of medium-strength at best group.
I was in London before the 2002 quarterfinals and it was simply amazing listening to people go from one minute claiming that this was the year for the world cup to 'come home' and in the very next sentence claiming that England couldn't beat Brazil if given a hundred chances. It's pretty amazing to watch an entire nation suffer that kind of collective angst.
And, to be fair, this basically is the "Great Britain" team. Who would make the squad from anywhere else? Darren Fletcher would be a good fit. Gareth Bale maybe. I'd take Craig Gordon over James or Green I guess. That's about it.
The quasi-official England song is titled, "Football's coming home." And since...oh 1996, they song has been recycled for every Euro and World Cup tournament. The song lyrics itself pretty much speaks to what Jan wrote:
ReplyDeleteEveryone seems to know the score
They've seen it all before
They just know
They're so sure
That England's Gonna throw it away
Gonna blow it away
But I know they can play
This is then followed by the lyrics, "Football's coming home, it's coming home...." repeated over (and over) again.
It's not the English who are holding on to the past though, the American team's shirt is inspired by the shirt they won in their (one and only) win against England in 1950. And let's not forget all that Revolutionary War rhetoric either...
Now having said all that, I wouldn't mind if football "came home", in the meantime though, I'm hoping that England doesn't lose on penalties in the quarters (for the n-th time).
I feel Gerrard isn't doing much. Sure, hammering one in from 30yards out once in a while (still pretty poor goalscoring record for England, though - compared to, say, Ballack, who's a very similar player).
ReplyDeleteHis tackles are often forced. It's like he has to show the world how hard a worker he is. The ones that are working really hard don't show it off like this.
In short, his "realness" seems utterly fake to me.
Also, the Slovenia comparison sounds harsher than it is. Coming out of the European qualifiers is damn hard. For example, where's Sweden? I'm not sure how often the U.S. would qualify from a European group. Sometimes, sure, but not always. Like Slovenia.
Having said all that, I'll be supporting the U.S.with all I have tomorrow!