England Desperate For Euro 2008

England defender Rio Ferdinand has stated he is desperate to help England reach the Euro 2008 championships and avoid the shameful prospect of having his club boss Sir Alex Ferguson laughing at his and his country’s misfortune! As if a Scotsman would laugh at any England failure, please!

Steve McClaren’s England go into today’s qualifier against Israel at the new Wembley stadium knowing that they must produce a win to keep alive their hopes of making into next year’s Finals. England last failed to make a major Championship Finals 13 years ago when they couldn’t qualify for the 1994 World Cup held in the USA and Ferdinand can’t bring himself to consider the possibility of a repeat. And if you’re an England fan, quite frankly I would imagine you’re hoping the Ferdinand isn’t the only one of England’s team who think like that.

Ferdinand, the Manchester Utd defender admits his season would be ruined if England miss out and almost as bad for him, it would leave him at the mercy of his Scottish boss! Ferguson is, of course, a proud Scot, who would doubtless miss the opportunity to remind Ferdinand about any England downfall. Ferdinand has said, “God forbid we don’t qualify for this tournament. It would be a catastrophe really. It would be a massive disappointment for the players, the country and the fans. It would be devastating. Even walking into the training ground and seeing the manager would kill me. it’s his smirk. And I would have to see the others players who would be going to the tournament. it wouldn’t be a good place to be.”

And you can bet, now he’s opened his mouth, if England shouldn’t make it, his boss and all those other players are going to take the absolutely p*ss out of him. Perhaps he should have kept his mouth shut but I don’t think keeping quiet is one of Ferdinand’s strong points!

Anyway, England have claimed just two wins from their last nine matches and those came against Andorra and Estonia, hardly the most daunting of challenges (great going Steve!).

This was supposed to be the age of the “golden generation” but England are no way here living up to that mantle. Successive exits at the quarter-finals stages of Euro 2004 and World Cup 2006 all point to the fact that England are no more than a decent team, however the country and most definitely the English Press, seem to automatically believe they are destined to win every game and every tournament, why? Some misguided believe that because you invent a game you should be allowed to win? England invented lots of games and they haven’t won too much over the years, have they. 2 Worlds Cups, one football one rugby and I don’t see that tally being added to any time soon.

While Ferdinand is adamant that the squad is talented enough to go the distance in a major tournament, he did concede that England’s perennial underachievement is a real source of concern. He continued by saying, “I’ve been frustrated because I don’t think we’ve ever fulfilled our potential (you can say that again!). We’ve never brought our club football together as a package with the England team. When each individual plays for their club they play fantastic football and we just need to get that into the England team. We need the confidence we have from our club football but we can’t do it overnight.

“I don’t know what it is. Every England manager has been trying to find the answer. We haven’t been able to pin it down.” May I suggest, it might be nothing more than England simply aren’t good enough at the moment!

“After the World Cup a lot of us sat down for a good few hours and talked about it. We said at the time we actually thought we were going to win the tournament. We were sitting there in the hotel and you reflect on the tournament. The boys had a few drinks, just relaxing after the game. It’s a numbness, like how the hell are we out of this tournament?

“You your asking yourself questions. A lot of the lads in the squad are very honest players and you are asking yourself whose fault it is.”

So with the group leaders Russia coming to Wembley on Wednesday, I think you’ll find the next week will go along way to deciding not only England’s fate in this competition but also that of Steve McClaren. If England don’t win these two games and fail to get to Euro 2008, McClaren will be sending out his CV again. Even if they do get through, he is not the man for the job, but that’s just my opinion. England have never recovered from not offering the job to Brian Clough all those years ago. Now he would have been an excellent England manager and why the FA couldn’t see that? Well, I think they knew he was an excellent manager, they just didn’t like his personality and were scared of him!

You have to say that the current manager is looking increasingly beleaguered and out of his depth as an International manager and he can’t afford any more slip ups. Ferdinand knows the players have their manager’s future in their hands, but he insists that they have to cope with that kind of pressure if they want to succeed at the highest international level.

“Playing for England is a different entity in terms of pressure and tension. There is so much history and nostalgia that goes with playing for your country.

“But I don’t dread playing for England. (Good to hear!) The attention and pressure that is on England is a different level from club football, but that is something you have got to deal with if you want to be successful.”

Will England be successfully over the next 5 crucial days or will Ferguson etc. make Ferdinand’s life a living hell? Personally I think he better stay in bed when Utd have their next training session!

The Soccer Blogger