Going back to Iceland

We're not going back to Iceland, it's just another football blog.

A decade ago this week, England lost 2-0 to Iceland in the 2016 European Championships, bringing the careers of Frank Lampard Jr. and Stevie Gerrard to an end.

It was a dreadful defeat. Not beacuse that performance was bad, but coming after two decades of underperforming by England sides since the Euros held in England in 1996.

That's so long ago, those championships marked the point at which I returned from my posting in Germany to the sleepu hollow that was RAF Lyneham.

The term "golden generation" was coined after England beat Germany in Germany in 2001 by 5-1. It did seem the start of something different, coming after most of my lifetime when Germany would always beat England.

But it was England who won, became smug, while Germany realised something had to be done, and they rebuilt with youth.

Germany won the World Cup again in 2014. England did not.

These were my comments about England after the 2010 World Cup:

"And what a let down, England were even worse than in previous games, and despite pulling a goal back before half time, and having a perfectly good goal disallowed, they were a very poor second to a cool and efficient German team, that now goes on the meet Argentine in the quarter-finals. This is a healthy dose of reality for most England fans, brought up on the belief that England has always been the ebst as well as inventing the game.

But years or under-investment in youth, and over reliance on expensive imports have meant a darth of talent in the Premier League, and this day had been coming a long time, that most hadn’t seen it coming is a sad indightment on the FA and Premier League.

Many of the so-called world’s best, or Golden Generation have had their international careers brought to an inglorious end, and rightly so. Failure of the basics like how to control the ball with one touch or be able to pass to each other being worse offences than tactics or who should or shouldn’t have played.

That there are no real replacements in the pipeline means that the day when England might challenge for the World Cup is maybe a generation away, and only then if there is a sea change in attitudes, which lets be honest, isn’t going to happen any day soon."

And in 2014:

"Nothing has changed, and nothing will change, we will stumble into the major competition every two years, hoping against hope that this time it will be different, but it never is. So, until football admits to itself that there is something wrong, and the FA actually does something about it, it will not change. I was so angry after South Africa, and yet, the FA did nothing. And so this time round, I’m not angry, just disappointed that four wasted years, no real change has happened, nor has any change been put into motion.

The likes of “Super” Frank and Stevie “G” will now being closing their international careers, each two years there has been nothing but optimism followed by failure. The players say they are sorry for letting the fans down, let the FA say something similar, saying how sorry they are at the failure of getting out of the group stages for the first time since 1958.

So, while the rest of the world celebrates and looks forward to the next stage of the competition, England’s layers will be either on the beach soaking u the rays, or getting ready for pre-season. The really sad thing is eight weeks from now, the league season will be under way, and all this failure at international level will be forgotten, and the media will be telling us how great the Premier League is. And nothing will change.

Quite how English football has sunk so low, and we are so happy for it to be this way is a tale of money, money and more money. And how the incompetent FA allowed the Premier League to be set up, and failed to put in controls and so the league bloated and became the foremost football organisation in the country, and the success of the national team is of no concern to the PL, just how the billions keep rolling in from TV companies from around the world.

Eight years ago, Germany were horrified by only reaching the quarter finals, and so reorganised the game in their country, and four years later, a youthful German team took England apart en route to the semi finals. Oh, if only the FA would take such actions after this shocker, but things will not change, the same players for the most part, will be laying the same tactics and we will endure failure once again in Russia in 2018.

It is, after all, just a game, and gives us something to talk and moan about, those 52 year of hurt."

And after that defeat by Iceland:

"England lost last night to Iceland in the knock out phase of the Euros. England were dreadful, I mean really bad, and yet I found myself wanting Iceland to score a third as it would make it worse. England did not register a good chance on target the whole game, and conceded thanks to two goals that would embarrass a park team. The manager resigned, but there is no one really to replace him, because as I have pointed out, those that have gone before from Kevin Keegan to Sven to Steve McLaren to Capello and now to Roy have achieved about the same results. The only common factor is the players.

Not good enough."

In the summer of 2016, Sam Allardyce was appointed as manager. It seemed to sum up Englash football, Mike Bassett: England Manager made real. Truth is Allardyce was a better manager than he was given credit for. I think he was the highest profile England manager/coach at the time, and after "safe" Sven-Göran Eriksson, overpaid Fabio Capello, and Roy Hodgson, who else was there?

We were to find out when Allardyce was sacked: "The 2016 English football scandal was a sports corruption scandal which began on 26 September 2016 following the publishing of the first part of the Daily Telegraph newspaper's "Football for Sale" investigation into corruption in English football.[1] It resulted in the resignation of England national football team manager Sam Allardyce after only one game in charge, as well as the sacking or suspension of numerous English Football League club staff, including Barnsley assistant manager Tommy Wright."

England Under 21 coach, Gareth Southgate, was appointed, someone who had no fear in promoting those players from the U21 side to full internationals. In his first tournament as Manager, England made the semi-finals, losing to Croatia. In the delayed 2020 Euros, England made it to the final, losing to Italy, after taking the lead early on in the final. in 2022, England lost to France in the quarters, but until then performed well. Harry Kane scored on penalty, but missed a second one later on. And it was Kane who perhaps symbolises the England team reborn.

Kane is now one of the best players on the planet, has set scoring records at Tottenham, Bayern and also for England, where is is England's all time leading scorer. Supporting him is a cornucopia of other youthful players, as English teams, and English players who developed around Europe all matured into excellent players.

If Southgate had a faul, then it was to be timmid when boldness might have won England a tournament, the 2020 Euros being a case in point. Leading early on, England had Italy on the ropes, yet didn't push their advantage, and allowed Italy back into the game.

Although England have not played too well under Thomas Tuchel, who was appointed to lead the national side for 18 months until the end of this World Cup, performances alone do not win tournaments, it's all about winning, and sometimes grinding out results. Maybe England won't win the World Cup this time either, but now that we have reached the knockout phases, we shall see. Tuchel knows how he wants the team to play, and the role each player has in that potantial victory.

But I suppose the point of this post is how England have gone from serial bottlers in tournaments to a team that we expect to "go deep" in each one, and get to at least the quarters, and have a chance of winning.

We shall see.