We were told England were the best prepared team in Brazil but they go home today with a manager who has turned these young stars into West Brom... limited with no realistic ambition of success
MARTIN SAMUEL: Hodgson did a very good job at West Brom, but it
was a job with limitations. West Brom do not tolerate relegation, but
they have no realistic ambitions of major success, either. If they
finish safe and give it a go against the biggest clubs, it will be
regarded as a good season. This is where England are now...
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Roy Hodgson has turned England into West Brom... safe but with no hope of success
- If England qualify for a tournament and and give it a go against the big sides, then it's regarded as a success
- The only high quality opposition England will face between now and Euro 2016 is in friendly games
- The World Cup and not the route to the finals is the barometer and England's whole defence was not up to standard
Welcome to
England's future. On Tuesday, in Belo Horizonte, a game of football will
be played. If England lose, it means nothing. If England win, it
means nothing. If England draw - well, you get the idea.
And not just because the World Cup is over for Roy Hodgson and his men.
The FA decided on Friday, in the aftermath of an eight-day exit from
meaningful tournament football in Brazil, that victory and defeat were
very over-rated qualities when assessing the success of a sports team.
Save me: England boss Roy Hodgson talks to Raheem Sterling at training on Monday
There were other factors, intangibles, concerning preparation and work across several years that had to be considered, too.
'If it doesn't matter who wins and who loses, then why do they keep
score?' asked the great Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi, a man
with more quotable one-liners than Bill Shankly, yet England are moving
beyond these earthbound measures of advancement.
It is just as well, for the Costa Rica experience is destined to be
repeated two years from here. The qualification campaign for the 2016
European Championship, with the finals expanded and downgraded to 24
teams, means it will get no easier to ascertain English progress in the
coming months.
Team talk: England's manager Roy Hodgson with the players on Monday
Strength: John Terry and Rio Ferdinand formed an exceptional partnership
England must play Switzerland, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania and San
Marino to qualify, knowing a top-two finish guarantees entry and third
place affords a puncher's chance via the play-offs. The only high
quality opposition England will face between now and June 2016, then, is
in friendly games, and those results are notoriously deceptive.
England have defeated Italy and Spain in their most recent
non-competitive meetings and won against Germany in a friendly in 2008.
There will be no way of knowing England's true standing until their next
competitive game in finals football in 2016. Everything that happens
until that date lacks substance.
Coming here, the message was that England had battled through a
difficult qualifying group, which allowed for false security. It was
suspected that Gary Cahill and Phil Jagielka were far from an
exceptional pairing at centre-half, when compared to their predecessors:
John Terry and Rio Ferdinand, Tony Adams and Sol Campbell, with Ledley
King in the role of fifth Beatle.
Bottom line: England's whole defence struggled to cope in Brazil
Yet, England had only conceded four goals in qualifying, it was pointed
out. Fewer than any country in Europe, bar Spain. Cahill and Jagielka
were not perfect, but they could do a job.
This wasn't true. England's centre-halves, the whole defence in fact,
were below the standard required. That is why the World Cup, not the
route to it, is the health check. Hodgson thinks it would be harsh to
judge his work on two matches, but that is football's bottom line.
Did Carlo Ancelotti become a better coach because he won a single
match, and with it Real Madrid's 10th European Cup final? In a word:
yes.
The fear when Hodgson succeeded Fabio Capello was that he would turn
England, not into Inter Milan, nor even his overachieving Fulham and
Switzerland teams, but into West Bromwich Albion.
Hodgson did a very good job at West Brom, but it was a job with
limitations. West Brom do not tolerate relegation, but they have no
realistic ambitions of major success, either. If they finish safe and
give it a go against the biggest clubs, it will be regarded as a good
season. This is where England are now.
High and mighty: Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti celebrates Champions League glory
For Premier League safety, read tournament qualification. Alex Horne,
the general secretary, summed up the dismal reprogramming that has taken
place at the FA when he announced before the tournament began that he
believed Hodgson had done enough to justify seeing out his contract
until 2016 just by getting to Brazil. The widespread acceptance of
courageous defeat by Italy in Manaus is another sign that England now
regard themselves as small and provincial, unable to challenge the
elite.
Hodgson's final season at West Bromwich Albion began with a home game
against the champions, Manchester United. Wayne Rooney put United ahead,
but David de Gea was inexperienced and vulnerable, and West Brom
equalised through Shane Long.
Limited success: Roy Hodgson made sure West Brom were safe from relegation
They
gave United a real game from there but, with nine minutes to go, an
Ashley Young cross that deflected once before going in off Steven Reid
handed United victory. It was agreed that West Brom could have put more
pressure on De Gea after half-time, but had done pretty well in the
circumstances and were perhaps unlucky not to earn a point against a
classier team. There was definitely cause for optimism.
In
essence, that was the reaction to England's defeat by Italy. Even the
same scoreline against Uruguay has produced no grand inquest. What
began as realism is now the meek acceptance of defeat.
The impossible job, we are now told. It isn't. That is more expectation
management. If it is impossible then the incumbent should step aside to
make room for another candidate, who might entertain possibility.
Others see the green shoots of recovery in the next generation. Yet
this presumes on several fronts. Any team that includes Phil Jones or
Chris Smalling presumes they will train on and make the team regularly
at Manchester United under Louis van Gaal, in a way they have not over
the last three years. Any team that includes John Stones on the back of
26 appearances for Everton, presumes he will grow up to be John Terry
not James Tomkins, who made 37 appearances for England at all levels
from Under 16 onwards, without quite fulfilling the outstanding promise
of his youth.
In the previous three World Cups, the players with five caps or fewer
are Michael Dawson, Stephen Warnock, Joe Hart, Aaron Lennon, Stewart
Downing, Scott Carson, Theo Walcott, Wayne Bridge, Darius Vassell and
Trevor Sinclair. Not everybody delivers on that early promise. Any team
that includes Jack Wilshere presumes he avoids injury, and any wholly
youthful starting XI presumes depth below, as at all tournaments the law
of averages dictates there will always be at least one significant
injury, possibly more.
Call up: Shaw and Jack Wilshere will get the chance to impress against Costa Rica on Tuesday
Go through the motions: England prepare for final group game against Costa Rica on Tuesday
VIDEO City Guide: Belo Horizonte
Yet
here we are. Reimagining what constitutes success. The England of the
future gets its kicks from logistical efficiency. 'The best prepared
team at the World Cup,' we were told and that boast persists through
back-to-back defeats.
We wish to be judged on intangibles, when in sport there is a very
finite measure of attainment. It's called the score. It is immune to
spin, management, foresight, hindsight, revisionism, criticism or any
form of external pressure. By removing it from the equation, nothing
is. Win, so what? Lose, so what? Glen Johnson came out of the lift at
England's team hotel in Sao Conrado, in the aftermath of the defeat by
Uruguay. A fellow countryman asked how he was feeling. Johnson shrugged
philosophically.
'What can you do?' he asked. Actually, that shouldn't be a rhetorical
question. There are books written on what you can do. Indexed,
cross-referenced, alphabetised. There are videos and coaching sessions,
debates and discussions, and plans A, B, C, probably through to Z.
There is always something you can do. Yet England's right-back is a man
of our times. What can you do, eh? He should have an FA blazer. He'd
fit right in.
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