When it comes to soccer there are no doubts that Argentina and England are two of the perennial candidates on any tournament they enter.
It is also true that in both countries anything but victory it is considered a failure and underachievement.
Another thing that has become the norm more than the exception is that these two superpowers of world football are in decline.
I can draw parallels here between the two cases.
How? Some may say, as both have completely different histories and styles, but the core of their problems are exactly the same: financial.
Come again?
Yes you read right, finances are the roots of both, but the way in which Argentina and England have been ruined by their footballing economies are totally different.
The premiership clubs are divided. There are the extremely rich and with the monetary need to compete at the highest level possible (Champions League, etc), which means spending big on big names to try and buy that needed success.
Or the other ones that must fight for their survival, as the gap between their potential earnings on the top flight and the championship are huge.
These means that both categories need to spend now in order to achieve their objective, being European domination or Premier League survival.
Who suffers in this case? The youngsters.
No club can take the risk of playing them, unless obviously an exception or two appear ( Jack Wilshere, etc), which means they end up going on loan to smaller clubs, where they don’t develop the way they could or just play on the reserves, knowing they will not command a regular place on their team.
If you look at the English national side now, most of the players playing there game in, game out (Lampard, Gerrard, Terri, Ferdinand, Cole) became regulars at a different time, where there were more home players coming up and getting their chances.
The future looked bright and expectations grew. However the football market changed, the clubs started to get bought by private billionaires with different objectives, and the generational change did not happen.
Yes some good players came in, but not to the standards of the above mentioned, and as they enter the twilight of their careers, the situation gets more worrying for them.
The financial situation in Argentinean football, has played its part but in a totally different way.
Because of the dire economic situation of the clubs (very suspicious when the Football Association is extremely rich over there!!), they became selling machines.
It sounds all fine and dandy, but the problem is they are selling 16, 17 and 18 years old who are still learning many things about the game and life in general.
They arrive in Europe and as they are still forming as players, they adapt to the way football is played in that particular country.
As we all know countries like Argentina and Brazil have very profound footballing traditions, which are now getting lost through the dynamics of local economy.
Still why the decline? Because although the players are becoming more European, their National side Managers (call him Maradona, Bielsa, Batista or whoever) aren’t.
They still want them to travel 22 hours, and train their brains in 4 days trying to remind them of their historic style and tradition.
And as the players are leaving their country younger and younger, the problem are not the Messi’s and Mascheranos only, but ,as in England's case, the newer generations.
It is also true that in both countries anything but victory it is considered a failure and underachievement.
Another thing that has become the norm more than the exception is that these two superpowers of world football are in decline.
I can draw parallels here between the two cases.
How? Some may say, as both have completely different histories and styles, but the core of their problems are exactly the same: financial.
Come again?
Yes you read right, finances are the roots of both, but the way in which Argentina and England have been ruined by their footballing economies are totally different.
The premiership clubs are divided. There are the extremely rich and with the monetary need to compete at the highest level possible (Champions League, etc), which means spending big on big names to try and buy that needed success.
Or the other ones that must fight for their survival, as the gap between their potential earnings on the top flight and the championship are huge.
These means that both categories need to spend now in order to achieve their objective, being European domination or Premier League survival.
Who suffers in this case? The youngsters.
No club can take the risk of playing them, unless obviously an exception or two appear ( Jack Wilshere, etc), which means they end up going on loan to smaller clubs, where they don’t develop the way they could or just play on the reserves, knowing they will not command a regular place on their team.
If you look at the English national side now, most of the players playing there game in, game out (Lampard, Gerrard, Terri, Ferdinand, Cole) became regulars at a different time, where there were more home players coming up and getting their chances.
The future looked bright and expectations grew. However the football market changed, the clubs started to get bought by private billionaires with different objectives, and the generational change did not happen.
Yes some good players came in, but not to the standards of the above mentioned, and as they enter the twilight of their careers, the situation gets more worrying for them.
The financial situation in Argentinean football, has played its part but in a totally different way.
Because of the dire economic situation of the clubs (very suspicious when the Football Association is extremely rich over there!!), they became selling machines.
It sounds all fine and dandy, but the problem is they are selling 16, 17 and 18 years old who are still learning many things about the game and life in general.
They arrive in Europe and as they are still forming as players, they adapt to the way football is played in that particular country.
As we all know countries like Argentina and Brazil have very profound footballing traditions, which are now getting lost through the dynamics of local economy.
Still why the decline? Because although the players are becoming more European, their National side Managers (call him Maradona, Bielsa, Batista or whoever) aren’t.
They still want them to travel 22 hours, and train their brains in 4 days trying to remind them of their historic style and tradition.
And as the players are leaving their country younger and younger, the problem are not the Messi’s and Mascheranos only, but ,as in England's case, the newer generations.