Is England's World Cup failure symptomatic of Capitalism's malfunction?

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3 Responses

  1. Roger Tyers says:

    Nice piece, and I agree with it. Anthony King (from Essex Uni) recently discussed ‘Why england fail’ (at football) on BBC’s Thinking Allowed. As well as the economic points you make here he also adds that English players are far less likely to play abroad compared to other european players. I would argue that this is true of Brits in general, who, because of language, laziness and general parochialism, don’t want to work in foreign countries. In football, our national team suffers as a result.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b040j023

  2. Huw says:

    Thanks Roger, I’ll check that out. My brother works in sports education – he’s struck by how little is invested in coaching youngster’s technical skills comapared to Spain for example. However, it’s puzzling that given the collective value of the England team on the open market they should be thrashing teams whose players couldn’t make the cut in the Premier League. I watched players unable to complete passes and moves they routinely perform for their clubs. This suggests some form of performance anxiety. Also, the English team lacked the fast, dynamic movement, especially off the ball, that characterises successful teams in this tournament.

  3. Stephen Pisano says:

    Huw, your last point was well observed by Robbie Savage after the Costa Rica, “teams
    Okie Costa Rica seem to grow intro their shirts, whereas our lads tend to shrink.” This might be partly explained by the fact that the last FA Licensed National Coaches Conference theme focused on creativity and imagination. The current predominant football philosophy that such learning opportunities are attempting to reverse is one of command and control that stifles individual decision making under pressure.

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