England's World Cup Foundation For Failure

Summary: I suspect few tears were shed as head coach Sven-Goran Eriksson left his post with the England football team. Well, except maybe for big Phil Scholari who had just masterminded his third successive tournament victory against the laid-back Swede. Eriksson has had his critics during his five-year reign with England, time and again engineering some baffling decisions to confuse not only the fans but also the players themselves. England's latest failure can be traced bac...

I suspect few tears were shed as head coach Sven-Goran Eriksson left his post with the England football team. Well, except maybe for big Phil Scholari who had just masterminded his third successive tournament victory against the laid-back Swede. Eriksson has had his critics during his five-year reign with England, time and again engineering some baffling decisions to confuse not only the fans but also the players themselves. England's latest failure can be traced back to the day Eriksson first announced his World Cup squad to a bewildered nation. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but even back then eyebrows were being raised at the choice of only four strikers for our assault on world glory. The incredulity was compounded by the fact two of the strikers (Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen) were returning from injury and not yet match fit. Having told Chelsea's Shaun Wright-Phillips he wasn't in the squad due to his limited number of Premiership appearances, Sven then incredibly proceeded to pick Arsenal's Theo Walcott, a player of such inexperience he hadn't made a single first team appearance for the Gunners. Fourth and final choice was Peter Crouch, a player of such prolific goal scoring ability it was nearly Christmas before he broke his season's duck for Liverpool. Following Michael Owen's injury and subsequent World Cup exit, Eriksson decided England's best offensive option was to play Wayne Rooney as a lone striker. As our one genuine world class footballer, Rooney was wasted in a role that expected him to run around like a lunatic chasing long balls all game in the heat and humidity. A lack of support inevitably led to Rooney's frustration, concluding with his red card and England's exit. Rooney is at his frightening best playing off a front man and running at defences with the ball. England supporters can only hope and pray that new boss Steve McClaren appreciates this and plays to our strengths.