Some of you desperately need to get over this inferiority complex you have with England. It's just pathetic. England has some world class talent on their team and some players and clubs that have been inspirational to clubs winning titles. Rooney, Scholes, Ferdinand, et. at Manchester, Lampard, Terry, Cole etc. at Chelsea, Gerrard, Carrick, Crouch etc. in Liverpool, and Beckham in Madrid . Arsenal's always been different since Wenger's teams typically don't have loads of English players - for a variety of reasons. But saying they aren't "world class" is nonsense. And even more, I wouldn't give England schtick about "choking" in the world cup considering they at least made it to the second round. Their problems now are pretty vast but IMO it starts at the top with McClaren - but that's an argument for another time. Yo umay not like the English press or have an idea of valuations/over-valuations of playres and that's fine, whatever. The good news is that people have the ability to look at a match themselves and draw their own conclusions instead of blaming people for 'overrating' others. Especially since I've seen the same thing on USA players from their own fans, etc. It happens. Get over it. Walcott's a terrific young player. But Sven shouldn't have put him on the WC roster knowing what he did about his two premier strikers injuries. That was stupid on his part and Walcott wasn't ready at the time. Now, he's getting much more time at Arsenal and is really growing as a player. He hardly looks out of his depth at Arsenal now. Altidore's an amazing prospect - one of the best American prospects I've ever seen, who has a bright future as well. From the class I've seen of him, I think he'd do well at a big program too & hope he makes the move quickly/when he's ready so his learning curve can accelerate. Being in NY in MLS has been good, but more importantly Angel, Reyna and Mathis have terrific for him to be around. IT's too hard to comapre the two. Different environments, different types of playres. But both have very nice futures ahead of them.
For all those World Class players England may have why cant they challenge in the World Cup? And why is it they probably wont even qualify for Euro 08? This is why Americans like to pick on England in this respect because they cant come together and be a TEAM, too much individualism that never comes together in the tournaments... As for Jozy, if he was English he'd be a star because he'd have been prepped his whole life to be a star and would have been in one of the major academies at an early age. Athletically he's a star now and at only 17 is freakishly athletic, skillwise if he was English he'd be 10x more skillful IMO because of how England prep their youngsters.
Let's see, the English have a smaller pool of talent than the USA and their development system is pretty shite because of their big money dreaming clubs and poor style of play. They are also football mad, so he'd probably be worshipped over there.
They do challenge in the World Cup. But they fall short for the same reasons that Argentina, Holland and several other countries fall short - other teams are simply better and beat them on the day it mattered most. For all of Brasil's world class talent, even they fell short in the World Cup. Same with the likes of Portugal, and same with the likes of Spain. Only one team can win. And look at Uruguay - a team that's absolutely loaded with talent, but plays very poorly together... unless the rivalry against Brasil & Argentina is at stake, which of course they play up to their potential. England has world class talent IMO. Several of their players have done well in club competitions and evne on their national team. There really is no denying that. When it comes to the international game, it's a different story like it is for a lot of teams and players. But that they consistently make the second round, and have at least been to the quarters in two consecutive cups is okay . Not up to expectations maybe, but pretty good none-the-less. Depends on how you, the individual, rate them. In 2002, they lost to the eventual champions. 2006, they took Scolari's Portugal to PK's and fell short. It happens. This one's easy. They didn't get the results they needed, and are very incompetently managed. So they aren't good enough. That happens too. Look at Mexico between 2000-2001 when they were under Meza, for example. Or Brasil under Emerson Leao in the same time-frame. Both, although very talented and more talented than the majority of the teams in their region, came dangerously close to failing to qualify or the World Cup. Some of it's due to the competition, some of it's due to the players, some due to the management. You need the group to play as a team to accomplish most things but IMO what stands out are the teams that have players capable of delivering game changing moments of brilliance. Does England have it? With Rooney, I think so, but the jury's still out - seems haunted since Euro 2004. McClaren bottles it & doesn't get the best out of his players though, and won't make the tough decisions with the players. Try the system and play the palyers where they're best. But he can't seem to do this. And he's struggled because he's largely been without Rooney and Michael Owen until recently... but never the two together. But it goes back to McClaren again because the twit refuses to play Jermaine Defoe!. It's maddening to see! But that's football. Sometimes the best team doesn't win. You can give them schtick as much as you guys want to, but they could probably give more painful examples from their end to the USA when it comes to the sport. It's possible, but who knows, really. Maybe if he was in England, he would have been a standout amongst some other players his age but at a certain level, simply fit in with some of the other talent there. Or maybe he would have been even better than he is now because he would have been more immersed in the culture and brought up differently in the environment. Who knows? It's all speculation.
He'd probably be subject to 100x the hype in England than compared to here. And that's saying something.