3 ways England can win Euro 2012
Posted by Gringo Maclure in Brasil Serie A, Brazil, EURO 2008, England, Fabio Capello, Spain | 7 July 2008
Most English football fans are floating in that strange lull after a major tournament and before the start of the new season. Suddenly, F1 looks quite interesting as does Wimbledon, or perhaps county cricket. In any case, I've been using my spare time to ponder England's chances the next time the Euros come around. Here are three ways England can make sure they're the ones taking home the Henri Delauney trophy...
1. Play with the fighting spirit of Turkey. I think the sight of my national team losing to Croatia at a rain-sodden Wembley in November 2007, especially after having pulled the game back to the required 2-2 scoreline, will forever stick in the memory as a display pitifully lacking in spine from England's so-called finest. Similarly, the lack of drive that accompanied the exit from World Cup 2002, playing against a ten-man Brazil, was a bitter pill to swallow for an England fan. Someone from the Turkish team needs to come over and do a seminar on "How to score goals in the last few minutes to help your team progress". Or, failing that, get David Platt to do it (re: World Cup 1990).
2. Play with the attacking flare of the Spanish. As Martin also noted in his previous post, what struck me about watching the Spanish through 2008 was how unlike England they were. The Spanish played attacking football right to the last minute in the final, not sitting back on a 1-0 lead. They reversed the "curse" of the Greek win in 2004 reassuring us that there is room in the modern game for attractive, flowing football. Furthermore, Aragones picked a team based on cohesion and NOT, tellingly, based on the size of his squad's paychecks. (Fabio Capello please take note). Raul wasn't even there and the popular Fabregas was unpopularly deployed as a supersub until the final...
3. Get a Brazilian to play for you (or manage you). Everyone's doing it, why not England? The Polish have Roger Guerreiro (born in Sao Paulo, scorer of Poland's only goal in the tournament), the Germans have Kevin Kuranyu (born in Rio), the Croatians have Eduardo (sadly missing from Euro 2008 but the Croations most potent striker, born in Rio), the Portuguese have Deco (born in Sao Bernando de Campo) and were managed by a Brazilian and the Spanish have Marcus Senna (born in Sao Paulo, a contender for player of the tournament at Euro 2008). The last entry on that list is a kick in the teeth for Brazilians, whose national team has been soft of late in the defensive midfielder role.
My big idea: Why don't England give a passport to the Brazilian Thiago Neves, currently the Fluminense number 10? Last Wednesday's Copa Libertadores (the South American Champions League) was an astonishing game. The final was between Fluminense of Rio de Janeiro and LDU of Ecudor. 5-2 down on aggregate after 5 minutes into the return leg at the Maracana, Neves hit a blue-streak netting a scintilating hat-trick to take the game to 5-5 and penalties. That's the kind of quality England need! But don't let him take a penalty - Neves turned hero to zero when he did a Gareth Southgate and saw his penalty saved. LDU went on to win. Nonetheless, I'd rather have him in my team than Emile Heskey.
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