The Round Ball Game

[teamsaint]

And now the aftermath. After Germany played, think it was France, Joachim Low said England hadn't had a chance, and never would have a chance, of getting anywhere because only a third of the players in the Premier League were English whereas 60% of players in the Bundesliga were German.

Now England have fallen to 20th in the latest Fifa world rankings, their lowest position since May 1996.
This means they are behind Bosnia-Hercegovina, Costa Rica and the USA(!) What implications does this low ranking have to even qualify in the future?

Not wishing to appear unnecessarily gloomy but when you look at the system the Germans have in place it does make you wonder.

..and the Germans (and others) have ten times the number of UEFA qualified coaches........

[Demetrius]

I agree with much of that, jc. The group stage had plenty of good games and some exceptional ones, but the knock-out stages were full of turgid games dragging on to extra time and sometimes penalties. Even the astonishing Brazil v Germany game was a poor one as it was so one-sided and Brazil were so awful. But as you say, Germany might well not have progressed if Algeria had taken their chances (and in another game, Ghana had a great chance to go 3-1 up which was squandered before Germany equalised). The sad thing was that disappointing, negative teams like Holland and Argentina progressed to the semi-finals while attacking teams with flair like Chile, USA and Colombia did not. So it was a tournament that ultimately flattered to deceive.

As for best player of the tournament, I might have gone for Germany's Jerome Boateng who hardly put a foot wrong and made a number of potentially goal-saving tackles and blocks, not least against Messi in the final. For some reason the commentators largely ignored him. I think Messi was unfairly criticised as he had a very mediocre team to play with (Mascherano, though a fine enforcer, is no creative player) and it was something of a miracle that Argentina even got to the final.

England's role now (at least in the later stages) is largely confined to providing the officials. It was a pity that Howard Webb didn't get the final again, as he might well have sent off Neuer.

Boateng is and was a hit or miss - against Algeria he had a lousy day, all in all he needs reassuring players at his side (Hummels, Lahm). Player of the tournament is tough, as there weren't that many dominant ones - Germany split the important situations evenly on its players. Key figures like Messi, Robben, Di Maria failed to either play through the tournament or failed to deliver good performances in the later stages. Perhaps Kroos.

As for Neuer-Higuain, I'm not sure. Neuer went for and I think got to the ball, though it was certainly dangerous (and possibly beyond the line, so Neuer using his hands was - optimistic). On the whole, the performance of the referee was jet again abysmal, with heaps of bad decisions in both directions. Fist against Schweinsteiger, the thing with Kramer early on, and at some point a german player used his hand very freely directly in front of assistant. The one good decision was the Argentinian off-side goal.

All in all, no team managed to cash in on Germany's weaknesses; even Algeria did not really deserve to win after missing that many chances. Neuer played insanely well, but they gave him the chance to do so. Also, the trainer caved in midway and put Lahm were he belongs. It is, however, the weakest Champion since Greece 2004, and the overall quality of the usual contenders was substandard.

[P. G. Tipps]

Some of the excuses for England's woeful performance at the World Cup are quite ridiculous. The cry of 'too many foreign players' could be straight out of a UKIP campaign leaflet, though sadly wholly predictable.

Arguably, England have better individual players than the new world champions. Scotland, who haven't a single payer anywhere near 'world-class', are currently 27th in world rankings and if they keep up the good results under coach Gordon Strachan they could easily overtake England quite quickly.

It is all about the best possible use of the players at a country's disposal and the Germans have proved time and again that they are pass masters at achieving this. Teamwork, discipline and proper tactics with players who are committed and intelligent enough to carry them out are the road to success.

I agree with those who say we should simply learn from the Germans rather than blaming foreigners for every ill!

[Demetrius]

Some of the excuses for England's woeful performance at the World Cup are quite ridiculous. The cry of 'too many foreign players' could be straight out of a UKIP campaign leaflet, though sadly wholly predictable.

Arguably, England have better individual players than the new world champions. Scotland, who haven't a single payer anywhere near 'world-class', are currently 27th in world rankings and if they keep up the good results under coach Gordon Strachan they could easily overtake England quite quickly.

It is all about the best possible use of the players at a country's disposal and the Germans have proved time and again that they are pass masters at achieving this. Teamwork, discipline and proper tactics with players who are committed and intelligent enough to carry them out are the road to success.

I agree with those who say we should simply learn from the Germans rather than blaming foreigners for every ill!

Germany has arguably the better individual players compared to England ;) The reason for this evolution after the dearth of individual quality between the 1990s and ca. 2005, as a matter of fact, is the increased emphasis of the clubs on producing homegrown talents. Thus you get Lahm, Müller, Badstuber, Schweinsteiger, Neuer, Reus, Kroos, Khedira. Keep in mind that without the injury of Reus, neither Götze nor Podolski would have gotten any chance at starting position, and Schürrle might have played even less. And behind them there is already a second wave of quality players. Chronically missing are good wing/full backs (wierd term) and more recently forwards. Klose would not have gotten his chance for number 15/16 in other top teams. But in Germany there is almost no alternative. Also, for the most part, they have lost their speedy approach of the last tournaments.

The idea that foreign players are bad for the own national football players is nonsense: if you consequently train and develop young players within the clubs, and then proceed to let them compete with the best foreign players your league can get to come, quality will increase.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

20th does seem a bit harsh. Perhaps Sepp decided.

[EdgeleyRob]

We should've stuck with Howard Wilkinson.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup-2014/howard-wilkinson-says-germanys-world-3862826

[johncorrigan]

20th does seem a bit harsh. Perhaps Sepp decided.

I don't know. After all they did come outside the top 16 in the tournament, Eine. OK, 19th. Mind you Scotland are 27th and we never even got there - of course, we're improving!

[antongould]

To move to the proper place isn't it all a bit sad that Southampton have been decimated by the operation of "the market". Where are are the Finneys and the Dickinsons (sorry ts)

[teamsaint]

To move to the proper place isn't it all a bit sad that Southampton have been decimated by the operation of "the market". Where are are the Finneys and the Paines (sorry ts)

Don't worry about us AG, we are busy signing England internationals, and ones that actually want to play for us unlike MPs ladsamoney wantaway whingers........

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Bertrand

Welll..thats LB sorted.........easy this team rebuilding....

(Oh, and I corrected your post......)!!!!!

[Beef Oven!]

The idea that foreign players are bad for the own national football players is nonsense: if you consequently train and develop young players within the clubs, and then proceed to let them compete with the best foreign players your league can get to come, quality will increase.

Agreed, and well said.

P.S. Not sure why you would think that the term 'wing-back' is weird.

[Beef Oven!]

It's going to remain a mystery why England repeatedly fail. Association Football is beyond human understanding. That's part of the reason why the game is one of, if not the greatest achievement of the human race!

The best team on paper was Belgium. A frightening list of players. Yet they bombed out, too.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Well - what about Celtic being reinstated to the Champions' League?

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

jammy dodgers! and how does this affect the goalkeeper transfer situation [he was gone if they were out]?

[johncorrigan]

jammy dodgers! and how does this affect the goalkeeper transfer situation [he was gone if they were out]?

Well they're still expecting him to go as far as I can see...it was pretty crazy. I think the guy only came on as a late sub. Celtic got through on such a decision before, two or three years back against a Swiss team who were booted out for ineligible player. Clearly all the admin staff are still on the beach and the whole kit and caboodle falls off the rails.

Anyway we're off and running with a trip to Fir Park today...not sure what to expect with Big Jim now part of the management team - blood and thunder I assume. Come on the Buddies!!!!!!

[cloughie]

No surprises over lack of heralding of the new league season on BBC1 Breakfast and in the Independent this morning. The season starts with the optimistic flat playing field where league position is only determined by the alphabet. I hope my optimism will be converted to euphoria at 5.00pm - we'll see!