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It’s Probably All in The Mind
June 2010ZANI – World Cup 2010
France are at war with each other, England are in disarray, Spain flopped to unfancied Switzerland and Italy were held my minnows New Zealand.While on the other side of the world Brazil are doing what they do with a smile on their face, winning football matches. Argentina are also showing winning form under the guidance of Diego Maradona and a few genuine world class players, like the irresistible Lionel Messi.
Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay are also trotting along nicely in their respective groups.
England have flopped yet again at a World Cup final, well so far anyhow, tho I would fancy them to beat Slovenia, as they can't play any worse than they have done already.
They opened with a predictable 1-1 draw with that super soccer power the USA, then stumbled blithe Spartan-like against the mighty Algeria 0-0.
France
My oh my. They have been the worst, they staggered to a 0-0 draw against Uruguay then lost to a resilient Mexico 2-0, coupled with Nicolas Anelka's dismissal from the French Federation for insulting the coach Mr Dommenech. Then came the players refusal to train before their final match on Tuesday and a certain first round exit and damnation for the 1998 winners.
Italy
Have been pretty anonymous also, they are the defending World Champions and have bored their way to TWO draws so far. They are in danger of falling at the first hurdle also, so, so predictable, when was the last time they ran riot against anyone?
Spain
Current European champions, and joint favourites with Brazil, were beaten 1-0 by Switzerland in their opening group game. Switzerland have no superstars, yet they nullified Spain’s 'Arsenal' like tippy tappy football with ease to drop the biggest upset of the most boring World Cup on record so far.
Why do the countries with all the supposedly world class players flop against the minnows time and time again.
It can't be the weather, as it’s the same for all teams, and it can't be the ball, as that’s the same also. So it has to be something in the make-up of the squads, something within. We can blame the manager / coach as everyone does, and we can blame the tactics as people do, but what about blaming the actual players?
How come the very wealthy multimillionaire football players seem to get NO blame for anything. In France’s case, they seem to be able to do what they want, when they want, they can go on strike, they can fight and insult the coach who has been appointed by their country's governing body, and they can dictate when they wanna play, how they wanna play, the only thing they can't do, at the moment anyhow, is pick the team – watch this space.
With England, player power dictates also. How else do you explain Rooney, Lampard, Terry, Gerrard and co being absolutely void of basic football skills last Friday and in Rooney's case.. FORM.
Does the FA insist that Mr Cappello pick the so-called superstars of British Football every game to ensure the FA coffers are always full with the merchandise that will fly out of the stores?
How do you explain the absence of Joe Hart the best English keeper in the league last season, or Joe Cole, a fella that can keep the ball and open defences, or Darren Bent a player that scores goals wherever he goes and couldn’t even make the squad, talking of which Adam Johnson who can run at players, who is an unknown quantity and who could have been the hero at this summer's event… but no.. Mr Fabio went with the tried and tested.
WHY?
And why do teams like the South American ones play with freedom and the European ones with fear?
Surely the fear of failure is greater with Brazil than it is with England.
After all, Brazil win trophies, England don’t, so why be fearful.
It's definitely all in the mind.
© Words – Paul Gallagher/ ZANI Ltd
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