What to do as England campaign fails yet again
[caption id="attachment_37932" align="alignright" width="300"] NOT GOOD ENOUGH: England's Wayne Rooney, right, wipes his face as he leaves the field with teammate Steven Gerrard after their World Cup match against Costa Rica on Tuesday. Picture: REUTERS[/caption]
AS England's beleaguered players flew back to the United Kingdom after another failed World Cup campaign, the now familiar post- tournament narrative was gradually beginning to take shape.
Previous failures have been explained away with convenient scapegoats -- David Beckham's red card against Argentina in 1998 and Fabio Capello's strict regime in 2010 – but in 2014, consensus is still to emerge.
For captain Steven Gerrard, England were betrayed by a lack of composure, flooding forward in pursuit of victory in their decisive second game against Uruguay and paying the price in a 2-1 defeat.
Wayne Rooney said England needed more nastiness and former striker Gary Lineker claimed the team had been outnumbered in midfield due to their 4-2-3-1 system, but for manager Roy Hodgson, his players were simply bettered by marginally more accomplished opponents.
The fatal loss to Uruguay in Sao Paulo and the stalemate with Costa Rica were rendered all the more frustrating by the fact that England had shown glimpses of rarely seen attacking brio in their opening game, a 2-1 defeat by Italy.
Hodgson's bold decision to blood youngsters such as Raheem Sterling and Ross Barkley is one of the reasons why he retains the backing of the Football Association (FA), and Gerrard has heralded his positivity.
England's premature exit comes at a time of intense debate about the dwindling number of England- eligible players in the Premier League.
FA chairman Greg Dyke has proposed restricting non-European Union players and creating a new B-team league that would allow England's leading sides to grant promising youngsters playing time, but Hodgson is not certain that it is the right approach.
"You'd run into arguments that would it be the best thing for Raheem Sterling, not playing for Liverpool, to go and play in the English third division or the Conference [fifth tier]?
"Would that be the best way forward? It's complicated," he said.
Hodgson will soon switch his focus to his side's 2016 European Championship qualifying campaign, which begins with a fixture away to his former team Switzerland on September 8.
While players such as Sterling, Barkley and Luke Shaw should all draw benefit from their experience in Brazil, not all of England's youngsters emerged with their reputations enhanced.
In particular, Manchester United defenders Chris Smalling and Phil Jones may both have cause to fear for their places in the Euro squad.
The World Cup nonetheless represented a changing of the guard.
Gerrard and Frank Lampard probably played their last games for their country. – AFP
