Since I started watching football over ten years ago, I greeted major tournaments with enthusiasm and while my head said England could never win it, my heart would say it was possible. Occasionally the two would overlap and I would be convinced England had a chance. Not this summer. With the England players enjoying their summer holidays and Steve McClaren wondering "what if", Euro 2008 will take place without the Three Lions. While most England fans are disappointed at the national team's absence, it gives us all a chance to appreciate the football on offer at a major tournament, rather than watching wall-to-wall news coverage about an England player's metatarsal.
Firstly, the pre-game programmes and half-time analysis will not focus on the issues surrounding the England camp. Nor will we have to put up with Garth Crooks and Gabriel Clarke reporting aboutthe contents of Wayne Rooney's lunch during half-time. During the last World Cup, I was unable to focus on the other stories of the tournament due to my obsession with England. Indeed, it took me a week to recover from the trauma that was England's defeat against Portugal and I only took a passing interest in the semi-finals before recovering to watch the 3rd/4th play-off and the final itself. This time, however, like much of the football appreciating section of the nation, I will be watching the football on offer. The European Championship has often been a more exciting competition than the World Cup, due to the fact that the majority of the 16 teams competing are of a higher standard than some of those contesting the World Cup. This means, without England we can watch the football on offer, and be enthralled by the drama of the tournament, rather than England's campaign.
Of course the main attractions will be the giants of European football; France, Italy, Holland, Germany, but there will be other teams competing. Since I will be in Switzerland for the tournament, I will be supporting them. It would mean that the atmosphere in the joint-host nation would be sustained for longer, and since I have links to the country, perhaps it will finally bring out the hidden patriot in me.
The fact is, the quality of football in majour tournaments, and the coverage and devotion to it, is often sacrificed in favour of England, since the broadcasters and the fans are too busy with the latter to care about the former. With the absence of England, perhaps we can pay more attention to a great tournament this time round.
The last time I posted, I spoke of the possbility of a British sporting renaissance. Since I uttered those famous last words, I will never dare of making such a suggestion for a very long time. In the time that has passed between entries, England bravely lost the Rugby World Cup final, Lewis Hamilton failed to win the Formula One World Championship by a single point, Scotland and Northern Ireland valiantly punched above their own weight to narrowly miss out on Euro 2008 qualification. These are achievements, but England's failure to reach Euro 2008 is just that, a failure.
A nation blessed with the richest league in the world and the home of the sport's heritage has failed to qualify for a major tournament for the first time since USA '94. True Steve McClaren had horrendous luck with injuries, but to use this as an excuse would simply be a facade. England got their "get out of jail free" card when Israel beat Russia, but they failed to qualify. McClaren's poor decisions continued to the last stand. He wanted to be popular and dropped Beckham, who along with Peter Crouch was England's best player against Croatia in that ill-fated qualifier. McClaren executed a poor piece of man-management when he dropped Paul Robinson for Scott Carson, who succumbed to the pressure in his first competitive start for England in their biggest match since the 2006 World Cup Quarter-Final. But McClaren's failure is history and he will go down as England's worst manager in England's.
The search for his successor has begun and former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho is the fan's, and SvenSport's favourite. He has a proven track record and would be able to overhaul the national side that is a serious state of disarray. Italian coach Fabio Capello has great pedigree and is the only big name to throw his hat into the ring so far, but he does not speak English, which could be a hinderance. Harry Redknapp is the "outstanding" English candiate, but he feels his chances have been ruined by his arrest as part of the corruption in football investigation. England have a talented pool of players, but that pool is decreasing and the current group don't seem to able to gel. Whether the manager is Mourinho, Capello, Redknapp or someone else, they have a task on their hands. They have to take England to South Africa 2010 and restore some pride to English football.
Last year the sheer mediocrity of British sport was highlighted by the BBC Sport Personality of the Year programme. What should usually be a celebration and reflection of the year's sporting achievements was an unwelcome reminder of the lack of achievement in 2006. But one year on, we are on the eve of perhaps the greatest British sporting year for some time.
Indeed, perhaps it was apt that Zara Phillips won the accolade and follow in the footsteps of her mother to win the award. 2006 had been a relatively good year for certain sports; Beth Tweddle's world title springs to mind as well as Nicole Cooke's achievements in cycling. But with no disrespect to any of the other nominees, in a year in which the World Cup was held, to have a cricketer who had played a handful of games for England in a relatively unsuccesful side and a Formula One driver, who's talent is undoubted, who won his first race in his seventh F1 campaign as nominees for the award spoke volumes about the poor year for British sport.
Ten months on from the ceremony, England are on the brink of winning a second consecutive Rugby World Cup and Lewis Hamilton is on the verge of becoming the first rookie ever to win the Formula One world championship. This is in addition to Scotland beating some of the finest sides in Europe en route to qualification to the European Championships in Austria and Switzerland next summer. England's qualification campaign is back on track and Northern Ireland were stunning some of the bigger nations in European football in theirs.
Is Britain experiencing a sporting renaissance or is this just typical British exaggeration? It is a bit of both to be honest. Next weekend will determine whether or not it has been a successful year. The Brazillain Grand Prix on Sunday and the World Cup final on Saturday will determine the final destinations of both the F1 Drivers World Campionship and the Rugby World Cup respectively. If both are achieved it will have been a vintage year, if one is achieved it will have been successful and if none, it was still better than 2006. Indeed, the British isles could also have two representives at a major football championship since 2002 if Scotland manage to negotiate the "Group of Death" after beating France home and away as well as World Cup quarter-finalists Ukraine, although one could argue that they are in a better position than England at the moment.
However one must remember that England were seen as no-hopers before their sensational victory over Australia last Saturday and Hamilton the supposed understudy to double World Champion in the McLaren this season. While England's triumph is to be celebrated, Wales and Ireland failed to get past the group stage of the Rugby World Cup and the Republic of Ireland and Wales never got their qualifying campaigns going for Euro 2008. We must remember that nothing has been achieved yet and that next weekend will be an unbelievable double-header of world class sport. One thing's for sure, whether Lewis Hamilton, Jonny Wilkinson or James McFadden (The scottish choice probably) win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2007, it will have been deserved
Once again, England failed to impress in another friendly. The accusations that this was "meaningless" are perhaps unfounded; international managers do have to test their squads before their crucial Euro 2008 qualifiers, but England were poor against a second-string German side. For the first twenty minutes, England played rather well and capped it off with a goal from Frank Lampard that he hopes will silence his critics. After that, England were unimpressive and rarely looked like converting the chances they created. Paul Robinson took the headlines for his mistake, which was not really the "howler" that was widely reported. It was a mistake, but the clamour to have the Spurs 'keeper replaced has been coming. The match proved that issues such as goalkeeper selection, Beckham's workload and forward options must be resolved before England face Israel and Russia.Robinson came in for David James during the 2006 World Cup Qualifying campaign following mistakes made by the latter against Austria and has held the place since. James has since moved to Portsmouth, after being dropped from the England squad by McClaren when he took charge after the World Cup. Impressive form has seen James recalled to the squad and despite an unspectacular half in the goal at Wembley on Wednesday, has every chance of playing in the upcoming qualifiers. Despite looking slightly unconvincing against Chelsea at the weekend, he is perhaps the best choice in the short-term as the players need to have confidence in their goalkeeper. With Ben Foster injured and Scott Carson, while impressive in the U-21 European Championships is inexperienced, James is the only viable option for McClaren, should he dispense with Robinson.Another talking point was David Beckham's inclusion following his trans-atlantic flight from Los Angeles. McClaren, now seemingly reliant on a player that he inexplicably dropped once appointed England manager, allowed him to play the full 90 minutes. Beckham is still nursing the ankle injury that has hampered his start to life in the MLS and one would have thought that in the interests of everyone he should have stayed in the USA to allow him to recover for Galaxy and for England. Even more absurdly, he played in the "Superclassico" against Chivas, just thirty hours after playing for England on a different continent. Indeed the players representatives and Alexi Lalas will have to handle the situation differently next time Beckham plays for England.Jermain Defoe was included in the squad despite not being in Tottenham's first team plans, and his hapless start to the season continued as Peter Crouch, who is suspended for England's next match, and winger Kieron Dyer were brought on ahead of him. Michael Owen played at Wembley and although his positioning was usually quite good, his lack of match fitness was evident as he missed chances that a fully fit Owen would have put away. Owen is getting there, but with Wayne Rooney injured and Crouch suspended, England's options up front look limited, which makes the selection of Dyer over Defoe as a substitute all the more baffling.There were a few positives to take from the game, and although we may not all share Steve McClaren's optimism, the match wasn't a complete waste of time. Micah Richards was impressive once again, this time at right-back and has managed to continue his good start to the season. A fully fit Joe Cole is certainly an asset to England and didn't look out of place. Michael Owen needs games, and he managed to get involved at Wembley. Problems are still there for McClaren and the Brave New England we were seeing at the start of his reign last summer could not seem further away as he brings back players such as James and Beckham that he dropped in order to rescue a Euro 2008 qualifying campaign in danger of falling short.
