Buzzin Football

With the World Cup drawing to a close and England’s dismal exit out of the headlines it seems a perfect time to reflect on some of the finer points of the tournament as well as reflecting on the future for English football.

As a neutral fan watching the first African World Cup it is impossible not to be delighted with Ghana’s progress through to the last eight. Coming in to the tournament it was the Ivory Coast most people tipped as Africa’s strongest nation, with Didier Drogba, Salamon Kalou and the Toure brothers all filling their line-up with European club pedigree.

However Ghana, without their own superstar in the injured Michael Essien, have played attractive football and backed it up with solidity in defence.

Individually, there have been players such as Anthony Annan, who has been outstanding in shielding the back line and breaking up play, and Gyan Asamoah, whose industrious efforts up front have been rewarded with three goals, in particular that memorable effort to clinch the tie against South Korea.

We have also seen Kevin Prince Boetang flourish in Essien’s absence, driving from midfield and always looking for the ball and his efforts fully deserved that excellent opener against South Korea. Yet, much as there were excellent individual performances, it is collectively that Ghana shone.

Despite their cruel defeat to Uruguay, tarnished in part by Luis Suarez’s cynical hand ball and Gyan’s subsequent penalty miss, they have been an excellent part of this World Cup.

The way that the Ghana Football Association has placed an emphasis on youth can be seen as an example to some of the failing nations in this tournament, notably England, France and Italy, all of whom have either left young players unused or simply not included them in the squad.

As an English fan, I would like to see the national team overhauled in the aftermath of this tournament and the older players who will be in their mid-30’s by the next World Cup dropped altogether. This would mean Gerrard and Lampard, good as they are, no longer have a place on the international platform.

Bringing in youngsters such as Adam Johnson, Jack Rodwell, Theo Walcott, Lee Cattermole, Tom Huddlestone, Jack Wilshere, Joe Hart and Kieran Gibbs is a controversial option and could even hamper our chances at the European Championships in 2 years, but it would certainly be for the long term benefit of English football.

Ghana have taken this option and it has paid dividends for them, as it has for Germany who, without their high profile name in Ballack, have brought through some excellent young players in Muller and Ozil as well as the more household names such as Schweinsteiger and Lahm.

Much has been said about England’s inability to bring through players from successful youth teams and transpose this form into the senior team. The argument always goes back to the fundamental problems within the FA and our youth system.

We are not allowing young players to express themselves or enjoy the game, right through from Sunday youth-leagues to the academies at professional clubs. On top of this we have such a lack of faith in young players.

Looking at the Germany team again, one will see that some of their stars of the tournament were almost untried at this level. Thomas Muller, who has been outstanding, only had 2 caps to his name, both in friendlies, and yet the faith shown in him has reaped huge rewards for Joachim Low and his team.

Likewise, Mesut Ozil has just earned only his fifteenth cap and has received plaudits from all corners for his performances to date.

We will never know whether youngsters such as Adam Johnson would have made a difference to England’s catastrophically bad World Cup but maybe it is about time we found out. By putting faith in those who will be in their prime in 4 years we are allowing a team to start playing together from a young age and maturing as a unit.

This can only benefit England’s chances at the next World Cup.