Euro 2008 without England: Who to Blame?

England failure to qualify to Euro 2008 has put a lot of blame on the coach and as the result he was sacked. However I believe the blame should go beyond himI believe the following people should be blamed for England soccer team’s failure and loss to Croatia:

1. England Coach McClaren for wrong arrangements: Wrong tactics, suddenly benching Beckman and Robinson, and not having a well thought of plan. English players were lost, their defense was weak, Carson their goalkeeper did not belong there, and David Beckham came in too late.

2. The FA: Because they cut Erricsson’s contract short because of his personal life and media pressure. English media and general English public did not like not having a non English coach who was from Sweden.

3. The Players: England has major issue when it comes to players. They key players are often injured for key games, or out of fitness. In this game, Rooney, Owen, and John Terry were inured. Beckham just recover from a long injury and Robinson was out of fitness. Also England players lack modern soccer creativity and play similar to each other, hence they become too predictable.

4. English Media and fans: Often too much pressure is put on England players, coaches, and FA officials from the fans. England media and fans put too much pressure on FA to sack Erickson who was a great coach. Also big coaches are always afraid to take the England job because of heavy Media and fan pressure and their biased and unfair criticism.

5. Egos and Arrogance: English fans and players are often a bit too arrogant and not realistic enough about their true stand in the world and their true abilities. Let’s face it, most of top English Premier League teams such as Chelsea and Arsenal often play without even one English born player. And England national team does not have players like Zidane, Ronaldino, Messi, Kaka, or C. Ronaldo.

Ok I am going to stop here. I know there is probably enough critisizm going on at England team and I just wanted to make sure that blame goes beyond just their coach!

Good luck to England in future