HOW THE ENGLAND FOOTBALL TEAM WENT FROM CHOCKERS TO CHALLENGERS IN 5 YEARS
A few years back, the English football team was considered a joke by many of the fans and the pundits. This occurred due to the disastrous performance of the team, not just in Internal fixtures, but in the major tournaments as well. The standard and the quality of English football had been deteriorating since the start of the century. Since 2000, there have been several low points in English football, with each being lower than the last one like not qualifying for the Euros in 2008, early elimination in the 2010 world cup and the 2014 world cup, just to name a few. In the latter, they scored just two goals, secured a solitary point in 3 games, and got knocked out in the group stages. But the moment when England hit rock bottom was in the 2016 Euro tournament.
When it came to the qualifiers of the 2016 Euro’s, there was optimism among the fans. This was due to their performance in the Qualifiers where they topped their group by winning all 10 games, scoring 28 goals, and only conceding 3. Another reason why the qualifiers was a big plus for England was because of the introduction of fresh faces such as Danny Drinkwater, Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy and the performances of John Stones, Danny Rose and Keiran Trippier in defense which resulted in England conceding only 3 goals in 10 games in the qualification stages.
But their performance in Euro 2016 of one of their worst in their entire tournament history. The finished second in a group consisting of Wales, Russia, and Slovakia, three teams who England should have beaten comfortably on paper. Instead, they drew to Russia, just got past Wales and drew 0-0 to Slovakia. There was optimism about England reaching the quarter finals as they had to face Iceland in the round of 16. But their tournament got worse as they lost 2-1 and crashed out of the Euro’s. The backlash from this tournament was heavy as several players such Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane were criticized for their poor performance and Roy Hodgson had resigned after a 4-year reign.
There were several theories formed by fans and pundits as to the reason for the poor performance of England in major tournaments. The problems were made clear from their Euro 2016 debacle. Many people felt that the team selection was wrong and people who were in the team did not deserve their place in the squad. Players such as Danny Drinkwater was left out of the Euro squad after a good performance in the league leading to a title win for Leicester city. The inclusion of Jack Wilshere had not gone down well amongst the fans either as he spent 8 months of the 2015/16 on the sidelines with an injury and had played only 141 minutes in the entire season. England had appointed Sam Allardyce as the new England manager, but he was sacked after one game after he was charged with corruption.
England appointed Gareth Southgate as their caretaker manager, following the sacking of Sam Allardyce and was made the permanent manager on 15th November 2016. This did not make England fans optimistic. The reason was because he had previously managed Middlesbrough who got relegated and he was the coach of the England under 21 team who had not been performing well under him.
Under him, they had performed well in the World cup 2018 qualifiers finishing toppers of their group with 8 wins and 2 draws out of 10 games and conceding only 3 goals. The pundits and fans were not excited about their chances in the world cup.
In the tournament, they won all 2 out 3 group games, losing to Belgium 1-0. They won in the round of 16 against Columbia in the penalty shootout and won the quarter finals against Sweden. When it came to the semifinals, England got the lead in the 5th minute through Kieran Trippier but eventually lost 2-1 to Croatia who went on to lose in the finals to France. England finished the campaign in 4th place after they lost their 3rd place playoff game against Belgium 2-0. Despite losing in the semifinal, players like Harry Kane, Kieran Trippier and Jordan Pickford drew a lot of praise for their performance in the tournament with Harry Kane winning the golden boot.
Following this their next stage of preparation was for the 2020 Euro. In the qualifiers, they had a strong performance, topping the group with 7 wins out of 8, conceding only six goals but scoring 37 goals. Fans and pundits lauded Gareth Southgate for giving chances to players who did not just play for a top six club. Players like Declan Rice, Kalvin Phillips and Jack Grealish, Dominic Calvert Lewin and Conor Coady were given their chance to shine in the qualifiers. Southgate also gave chances to youngsters such as Bukayo Saka, Jude Bellingham and Jadon Sancho were given chances in the tournament.
Going into the tournament they had an squad with an average age of a little over 25. They had a mix of experience and talented youngsters. They topped their group in Euro, won in the round of 16 against Germany, brushed aside Ukraine 4-0 in the Quarter finals, won 2-1 against Denmark in extra time through a Harry Kane goal in the 104th minute. In the final against Italy, they went ahead inside two minutes through Luke Shaw but eventually conceded from a corner which was scored by Leonardo Bonucci. The game eventually went into penalties. Pickford had made two saves in the shootout, but Italy cliched the final after misses from Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka.
England finished the tournament as runners up, but there was a lot of appreciation from the fans and the pundits for the performance of the manager and team players, especially the youngsters. They were a laughing stock in the 2016 Euro and nearly won the 2020 Euro.
There has been steady progress that has been taking place in English football and Gareth Southgate deserves a lot of the credit for much tough decisions and giving chances to player to shine. The Euros are taking place in Germany this year and Gareth Southgate has a chance to take the England team one step further and guide them to the title before leaving his job as England Coach. England go into this tournament with a little bit of negativity, considering their performances against the big teams in the last 2 years, but this tournament is a chance for them to but these negative talks to rest.