England vs Holland, a massive game on the international football scene. As England prepare for a crucial warm up game against the Dutch the nation is gripped with a mixture of intrigue and excitement. Millions across the country wondering how England’s preparation for the Euro’s is going, and how we will fair against the third best team in the world. Or you’d think so, wouldn’t you?
Instead there is scepticism in the air as England prepare for yet another international friendly. One that the FA will do well to sell out Wembley for. So what has happened to international football? Is it still valued? Is it still relevant?
Really, can we blame people for shying away from the international game? Why would international football be as easy on the eye as the club equivalent? International football features many of the best individuals, but football is a game played by teams, not individuals. So with that in mind surely the best teams are those that work with each other day in and day out on the training pitch, in other words club sides.
We’ve often heard that it takes time to blend a successful team. So a team of Italians or Frenchman who meet up for a few days and play a match at the end of it won’t have the same fluidity to their play as a Manchester United or Barcelona whose players know each other inside out.
Club football sees teams and players at their most comfortable and ultimately at their best. International football is bound to look awkward and somewhat scrappy in comparison. Perhaps this is what sets Spain apart from the rest as a huge chunk of their side is made up of Barca players, already familiar with each other.
Maybe familiarity plays a big part in where all of our priorities lie. The vast majority of us support a club side. It’s easy to emotionally invest in a team who plays once or twice a week. We understandably don’t have that affinity with our international side who we rarely see play a competitive fixture. Patriotism could well be at an all-time low and supporting England just because you’re English doesn’t seem quite enough.
Your club side takes priority. Many would get more satisfaction from seeing their team lift the Premier League than they would seeing their country lift a major championship.
If our loyalties to our clubs now run so deep could a Liverpool fan really get behind Manchester United (and former Everton) striker Wayne Rooney? Would it sit well with a Spurs fan, willing Jack Wilshire to get the better of an opposition midfielder, perhaps Croatia’s Luka Modrić? Our passion for our club engulfs us and they can’t just be switched off for an international break.
Fans may not be the only ones to feel like this, it could be the same for the players themselves? Jamie Carragher said as much in his infamous autobiography, stating that his missed penalty in the 2006 World Cup quarter-final shootout would have been more painful if it had been for his beloved Liverpool.
I’m not suggesting that a player doesn’t still see playing for his country as a major achievement, I’m sure they do. Carragher did come back belatedly for the last World Cup after all. But when push comes to shove where do allegiances really lie?
Take Frank Lampard, he dedicates a whole pre-season and countless hours throughout the year with the aim of winning something with Chelsea. He only spends a few days of that time with England. Which honour would mean more to him? Surely the one that he’s worked for every day.
It’s not rare to see a player pull out of an international squad with a minor injury and then play for his club at the weekend. How often do you see Rio Ferdinand sit out a Man United game in order to be fit for England? You don’t, and no one expects him to. Footballers are all greedy money grabbers (as some sections of the press would try to convince us), and put simply the clubs pay their wages. No contest there either.
Admittedly this club vs country row could just be a local affair. We may be disenchanted with international football but that doesn’t mean the rest of the world has to be. If we are here calling into question the inadequacies of the international game maybe it’s because the international football we see regularly is not up to scratch.
Take England as an example, no captain, no manager, disaster at the last World Cup, failure to qualify for the Euro’s before that. It’s easy to see why we and the rest of the UK (who have fared worse than England on the international stage) find watching our club to be a more pleasurable experience. It may just be us; it is very doubtful that they are having this discussion in Spain.
So, we’ve discussed the shortcomings of international football compared to its club counterpart. The argument for club football appears to be a strong one. So what of the World Cup? It’s supposed to be the pinnacle of world football, the greatest display of footballing ability on the planet. But how can it be? Do we see the best games at the World Cup? The best individual or team displays?
The last World Cup wasn’t lit up by Messi and Ronaldo as it probably should have been. Both showed just flashes of what they do consistently for their clubs. All of the above points, placing club football ahead of international, are fair. So has this made the world's premier football competition the Champions League? Or maybe South America’s equivalent, the Copa Libertadores?
If you want to see the best players, performing to their best, producing the most exciting football, then the World Cup doesn’t seem to be the place to be any more.
The line in the sand is drawn. We stand on the side of our clubs, simply looking over at our international game with a slight interest/morbid curiosity. But who knows, maybe we’re all fickle, a good display from England at the Euro’s and we’ll all once again be singing ‘3 Lions On A Shirt’.