Apart from the fact that they all play football, what is common amongst players like Ribery, Lampard, Rooney, Pirlo, De Rossi, Gerrard, Malouda? That they all are back in their caves by now since their teams suffered humiliating exits from this World Cup. Here is some ravelling into what went wrong for the heavyweights.
First and foremost, there is no place for individuality in Football. An individual brilliance without teamwork means jack. If Football was to be a drama, Ronaldo and Rooney will be amongst the best actors. Only that without smaller characters the drama would never look the way it is.
Secondly, as England discovered, having a competitive league which is watched all over the world is becoming more of a hindrance than a benefit. Unless the young talent doesn’t make its way into the national squad, those domestic leagues won’t make much of a difference.
Thirdly, they have to learn to respect their opposition. “This was like their World Cup final”, is what Steven Gerrard said after England drew 0-0 with Algeria. But he will do well to remember that only one team played as a unit that day and not as a bunch of individuals. And it certainly was not England.
Italy, England, France and Portugal have not performed as expected from them. Maybe it’s very easy to point out their shortcomings and forget their strengths that lead to such huge expectations in the first place but certain things have to change if these teams are to wreak the same havoc that they once used to. Change, they say is the only constant.
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