Greg Dyke has laid out the FA’s master plan. England are going to win the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, that’s the plan anyway. Not, of course, that it wasn’t the plan to win it in 2010, or 2006, or 1998, or 1970 for that matter. But Qatar will be different. This is the aim laid out by FA Chairman Greg Dyke at his recent press conference and it starts now.
But that’s 9 years away. What about now? What should we be doing? Should we be giving the likes of Nathan Redmond, Nathaniel Chalobah and Luke Shaw a chance in the England set up or should we at least be keeping one eye on the here and now.
One player at the very forefront of this discussion is Frank Lampard. Frank is exactly the kind of player who would be missing from the team if forward planning became the only concern. Against the Ukraine on Tuesday Lampard became only the 8th player to reach 100 caps, a monumental achievement for one of England’s best servants. Lampard has proven already this season that his standards are still impeccably high, he is one of England’s best players and still will be when the World Cup in Brazil rolls around next summer.
But, if we are already targeting 2022 as Dyke suggests, then why include someone like Lampard. When the 2022 World Cup reaches us Lampard will be 44 years old. He will be nothing more than a distant memory to England fans, albeit a fond one. And you can substitute Lampard's name for many of the others who started England’s match on Tuesday night. Steven Gerrard (33), Ashley Cole (32), Rickie Lambert (31) will all only be England players for a short while longer.
By calling these players up and involving them so heavily, England manager Roy Hodgson seems to be showing clearly which side of the fence he falls on. Not ready to give up on the 2014 World Cup, Hodgson’s team selection suggest that he looks no further than the next game, let alone the next tournament.
Perhaps this is because Hodgson’s own involvement in Qatar 2022 isn’t certain. After all, how many England managers get a decade in their job nowadays? Hodgson himself hasn’t been in a role longer than 4 years during his esteemed managerial career. Perhaps he feels that if he is to win a World Cup then it has to be now.
This is a little bit at odds with his Chairmen’s most recent comments. Hodgson and Dyke could be pulling in different directions here. Not a great sign for World Cups in 2014 or 2022. But that suggests a very simplistic view of what’s wrong with the England football team. That suggests that all we have to do to be successful in the future is blood our players in the first team earlier.
That also suggests that there is a wealth of talent in the Under 21’s waiting for an opportunity. The last tournament our Under 21’s entered suggests otherwise.
The word coming from Hodgson and Dyke is that there just aren’t enough players to choose from. While it’s true that the amount of English players in our top league is lower than it’s ever been there has to be more to it than that. It’s not as if England were appearing in final after final when the English game was dominated by Englishman. Only one final, by my counting.
There have been talks (as there always is) about putting a stricter quota system in place so teams in England have to have so many players who can represent our national team. But that merely papers over the cracks. Rather than asking Premier League managers to pick English players we should be asking them why they won’t pick English players.
The answer, for the most part, is that English players aren’t good enough. Managers are charged with building the best team they can and more often than not the best players aren’t English. More needs to be done to coach players from a young age, to make sure that we are producing players good enough of playing in the best league in the world. Not just producing players that we force into the best league in the world because that league happens to take place in our country.
I’m not claiming to have a magic formula for producing world class footballers. If I did then I would probably be earning a lot more money than I do! But that needs to be where our best men put their best efforts.
So let Roy Hodgson pick his best team today. Otherwise we run the risk of endlessly planning for the future. When 2022 finally arrives we will simply be planning for a World Cup in 2030. Our national team should be looking at the present, at winning their next game, the planning for the future should be done elsewhere.