Youth Soccer Drills

As Spain were crowned World Champions in Joburg, the curtain fell on the 1st World Cup to be held in Africa. European sides accomplished a 1-2-3 with Spain conquering Netherlands in the final as well as Germany getting 3rd place with a 3-2 triumph over Uruguay.

This only reinforces the argument that European football is the best on earth and that the European Championships are a excellent tournament. Qualifiers for the Euro 2012 finals starts out in Sept and regardless of finishing third, Germany will certainly be among the favourites to win the title. Their young side manufactured some clever football throughout the World Cup with Thomas Muller capturing the Golden Boot with five goals and 3 assists. With the help of further young stars like Ozil, Boateng and Kediera, the Germans will be undoubtedly one of the ones to look out for.

As World and European champions, Spain are going to be a tough opposing team. Nearly all of their team will still be young enough in 2012 to deliver stiff opposition and they definitely will be inclined to defend their title.

For once Netherlands was able to abandon their personal egos at home during the World Cup finals and for that reason, they got to their 3rd World Cup final beating a lot of peoples favourite, Brazil, en route. With better finishing from Robben, the Netherlands could have won the World Cup instead of Spain and they will look to carry on in the same vein throughout Euro 2012.

The traditionally powerful nations of France, England and Italy all failed miserably in South Africa and due to this fact, the curtain will unquestionably come down on a number of of the older players careers. England have many exceptional young footballers to bring to the international stage and if they can emulate Germany, there will be great hopes between the English fans.

The Euro 2012 host nations of Poland and Ukraine will both take advantage of wonderful support but in due course, they possibly achieve not have the quality to seriously challenge for the title.

Once England left these shores for South Africa a couple of weeks ago, there was much hope that at long last, they could possibly bring the trophy home. Nonetheless, that dream was destroyed in no uncertain terms by the old enemy Germany in Bloemfontein as England crashed out of the competition losing 4-1. How may well such an experienced team who qualified so effortlessly fail to perform? Not surprisingly, the English media has produced no shortage of scape goats and reasons for what was England’s worst defeat at a World Cup. There has been lots of talk about the Italian manager, formations and more but the difficulties are a lot more serious.

Since its formation in 1992, the Premiership has achieved fabulous success as an international brand. The cost of this success has been felt by English football. Increased TV money has forced wages to increase. Consequently this has meant there has been a growing gulf amongst club and country. Teams pay their players lots of money and are more and more unwilling to let their footballers turn out for their countries.

Consequently, footballers get massively rewarded by Premiership clubs to the extent that success is deemed by obtaining lucrative contracts in place of anything they do on the pitch. Ordinary footballers who rarely turn out for their clubs are still millionaires and when these players put money ahead of playing matches at club level, there can be little doubt they do not have the mental strength or hunger to play international football.

Typically, there was always a regional reserve league which ensured young players from lower league teams could well be guaranteed playing versus decent reserve teams from more established clubs like Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United. Even so, in recent years, the EPL has changed thus they will only play against other Premier League reserve teams. This means that Championship reserve clubs no longer get to play against Premier League sides. For clubs like Ipswich Town, it means their reserve team now plays versus Stevenage rather than Spurs and this drop in standard in opposition obviously has a negative effect on the learning curve of young footballers.

With a great deal of money on the line, things are targeted at Premiership survival. Clubs spend fortunes bringing in allegedly superior foreign managers and players in a bid to keep their Premier League status. The ambition of promoted teams to the EPL extends no further than finished 4th bottom. The Premier League cash bonanza means that Premiership clubs can provide you with £1-2m for young players at lower league clubs. The players are inclined to move and secure their financial futures but it may also signal the stop of their careers. The young Crystal Palace star signed for Spurs but almost never made an appearance and was last seen on loan at Brentford, a league lower than when he was at Crystal Palace. From a football point of view, Bostock would have been best served staying at Palace and learning the game. How many more young footballers careers are cut down like this chasing the money as opposed to playing the game?  It’s difficult to blame the young footballers for taking the money.

There is also the popular accusation that clubs take part in too many matches in England and more and more managers want a winter break. Of course, footballers don’t seem to be tired the minute asked to fly off to the United States or Far East on pre-season visits. Or how about England’s friendly fixture next June away in Thailand?

There are too many ready made excuses for failure that footballers are ready to accept. They live a life well away from the real world with their mansions, luxury cars and trophy wives. In basic terms, there is not enough hunger or desire.

The fixture in Thailand also shows another issue. Together with the EPL being an international brand, so are the England team. People want to see the big Premiership stars play for England and in friendly matches like this, those stars will be expected, if not contracted, to turn out.  Having said that, it is not the case that the finest 11 footballers make the recommended team. Too plenty of footballers are in the team based on standing rather than performances. Young players should be promoted into the senior squad sooner.

For the approaching Euro 2012 campaign, England should do away with the services of all players aged 30 or over. None of them have played well in South Africa therefore why should Capello persist with them. It would be more effective to promote younger footballers who may still be hungry for success. Yet, while the worshiping of the Premiership continues, things are not likely to improve anytime rapidly.

The old Wembley Stadium was opened up in 1923 and had a track record for possessing one of the best playing surfaces in the UK. Its wide open spaces would drain the power from the legs of even the fittest players. Once the Empire Stadium eventually closed its doors in 2000, the impressive playing surface was torn up along with the entire arena.

England fans had to wait patiently 7 long years before the new Wembley Stadium opened its doors. The new 90,000 seater stadium was categorised by UEFA as a 5* Elite Stadium and is the second largest in Europe after the Nou Camp in Barcelona. The initial full international was played against Brazil on 1st June 2007.

The building of the stadium was late and significantly over budget and the issues didn’t stop there. Operational complications such as faulty escalators on match days were encountered but there is an on-going issue that so far has not be sufficiently answered – the pitch.

Playing surfaces at new stadiums generally take time to settle down but at Wembley the playing surface is a headache and is definitely one of the worst around. It cuts up far too easily and players lose their footing too often. In a recent FA Cup semi final, at least one of the goals was because of a player slipping at a vital point as the pitch gave way. By the close of the 2009/2010 season, the turf had been relaid 10 times at an expense of £1m and the stadium had not even been in operation for 3 years.

All the same, relaying the playing surface every 3 months just isn’t the answer. The layout of the stadium prevents the natural conditions of light and wind can’t get to the pitch to promote the grass to develop. A handful of stadia much like the one in Gelsenkirchen in Germany is on rollers so between games, the entire pitch is moved outside the stadium. Most other stadiums have sufficient air flow in the stands allowing the air to flow and it is possible to use artificial lights to encourage the grass to develop.

Alas, there are still challenges and a solution has to be found. In September 2010, England begin their qualification for Euro 2012 and they are without question the best team in their group. The one thing England really don’t need, is the other team served by a sub-standard Wembley playing surface. The fixtures at Wembley are supposed to give England home advantage.

The UEFA Euro 2012 Championships  will be jointly hosted by Poland and Ukraine. The competition is the last one to be 16 teams as the following one in 2016 will increase to 24 teams. Poland and Ukraine overcome Italy and Croatia/Hungary for the right to have the event.

 

The games will basically be split 50/50 between the two hosts. Polish venues to put on games will be Warsaw, Gdansk, Wroclaw and Poznan. The Ukrainian cities will be Kiev, Lviv, Kharkiv and Donetsk.

 

The final will be held in Kiev which will also hold a semi-final. This will be at the Olimpiysky National Sports Complex which after development will be one of the top stadiums and sporting complexes on earth. The new arena in Warsaw is also being built and guarantees to be a state of the art stadium.

 

The draw for the competition has already been held and qualifying games will start just after the 2010 FIFA World Cup. All of the nine group winners and the best runner-up will have direct entry into the championships. Following that the other eight runner-up will be drawn into two-legged playoffs.

 

From Group A you would guess Germany and Turkey would be too resilient with Austria and Belgium being the contenders.

Group B looks to be a 3 way race between Russia, Slovakia and Ireland.

 

In Group C it looks like it will be effortless for Italy and Serbia. France is the most likely from Group D with Romania looking at the one to take runner-up.

 

There is a northern European feel to Group E where it should be Netherlands and Sweden.

 

Croatia and Greece are the favorites by way of Group F as are England and Switzerland for Group G.

 

From Group H it looks like Portugal and Denmark and finally from Group I it would seem to be Spain and the Czech Republic.

 

Qualifying finishes in October 2011 by which time excitement and expectation for the Euro 2012 Championships will be well and truly underway.