The average football fan can be a bit sceptical about most new initiatives introduced into the game they love so much. For example, the Champions League and its Group Stages weren’t everyone’s cup of tea when it was first introduced all those years ago to replace the old European Cup. Plenty of fans argued that it was a shame to meddle with the traditional knockout format and replace it with a league-like round-robin group stage. Almost 30 years later and the Champions League has become European football’s most coveted prize, many giving it priority over their own domestic league.
Other examples of suspicion around new changes to the game include: Golden Goal, three substitutions rather than two and of course the most controversial of all: VAR.
The latest new initiative from UEFA is the NationsLeague. Some will feel it’s a bit unnecessary but there are plenty of reasons to think it’s more than just asideshow to the real business of the World Cup and European Championship. Especially if you’re an England fan.
Silverware up for Grabs
It’s worth remembering that England have only ever won one major tournament, the 1966 World Cup. To make matters worse, it’s also the only major final they’ve ever been to. Near misses include the 1990 World Cup, Euro 96 and of course more recently, the 2018 World Cup.
Like so many other things in life, getting that first one in the bag can so often provide a stepping stone to further success.
England are in the semi-finals of the Nations League, played in a couple of weeks’ time, and though the Netherlands first up followed by a likely final against Portugal (or Switzerland, if there’s an upset) should provide a challenge, there’s no reason why England can’t win it. They’ll feel they’re more than capable of beating the sides still in it and though Portugal have home advantage, plenty of neutrals will feel that England currently have the best squad of the four and at the very least, were the team who went the furthest at the World Cup last summer.
England are currently narrow favourites in the Nations League markets and getting that monkey off their back and winning a first major tournament in 53 years may be just the tonic they need to believe they can do it again in the future on even bigger stages.
Experience of do-or-die Matches
Getting to major tournaments has never been a problem for England. Bar the disastrous Euro 2008 qualifying campaign that ended with the famous ‘Wally with a Brolly’ incident at Wembley and failure to qualify for the Euros, England have made it to every major tournament since 1994.
Negotiating their way out of the Group Stages once there hasn’t been too much of a challenge, either.
They’ve been quite fortunate in never ending up in the inevitable ‘Group of Death’ and have generally gone as far as topping their Group. It’s what comes after that which has been a problem for England.
Where do we start? In 1990, it was on penalties against Germany. Six years later there was more of the same against the very same opponents. Had Gareth Southgate– now England manager of course – not missed that penalty and had David Seaman found a way to save one, they would surely have beaten a gutsy yet inexperienced Czech Republic in the final, wouldn’t they? There was more penalty heartbreak in 1998 – this time against Argentina – not helped by David Beckham’s sending-off.
In 2010, there was that Frank Lampard ‘goal’ that wasn’t given at a crucial stage of the game and just last summer a real case of losing a match they really should have won, eventually going down 2-1 to Croatia after being 1-0 up. There’s always something isn’t there?
Sports psychologists would probably argue the problem is in the mindset and a lack of self-belief. The more pragmatic football fan might tell you that they just need to get better at penalties, know how to defend a lead more efficiently or…dare we say it…learn how to use the ‘dark arts’ to close out a game. You know: time-wasting, feigning the odd injury, that sort of thing. All very ‘un-English’ but you don’t hear Italian, Argentinian or Brazilian fans complaining about it when they’re World Champions.
Meaning that two knock-out matches against strong opposition in early June with a proper trophy at stake might be exactly what they need. If they go to extra-time or penalties before winning, there’s certainly no harm in that. It will prepare them that little bit better for next time. Same as if they go a goal down and rather than panicking, they play their way back into the game.
This is a young England side and whereas the likes of Raheem Sterling, Dele Alli or Harry Kane have been through those sorts of situations at club level, particularly in the Champions League, it’s a very different scenario to doing it for your country. Not least because they can’t count on world-class foreign team-mates like Mo Salah, Sergio Aguero or Kevin de Bruyne to bail them out.
Winning Mentality Key for Youthful England Team
The pressures of international football and the expectation that comes with it has often been England’s Achilles heel. You only have to look at England’s so called Golden Generation that included the likes of Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard and David Beckham, and their failures in major tournaments to know that playing for England is as much a psychological battle as it is a battle on the pitch.
A youthful England flourished in the last World Cup because the pressure was off and a no-fear mentality was installed by Gareth Southgate, but ultimately inexperience of winning major tournaments/trophies meant the Three Lions fell just short.
The Nations League presents the perfect opportunity for this young England side to get their first silverware in the cabinet as a group and to gain the experience of seeing out semi-final and final games.
So make no mistake about it. The Nations League can be a lot more than a set of glorified friendlies masquerading as a tournament for England. It couldpotentially be one of the most important factors in terms of how well the Three Lions do at next summer’s Euros.