You don´t have to have a #9, but you have to get in the box
France were the biggest disappointment to me because coming in, I felt that with Nasri, Ribéry, Cabaye, Maluda, and above all, Benzema, France could be as dynamic and exciting as anyone going forward. Instead, they looked disconnected, unimaginative, and flat. Benzema was the biggest disappointment, but I have to question his positioning. With Real Madrid, he has thrived all year in the channels, turning center backs inside out. For France, he played deeper and wider, oftimes in front of the opposition´s right back, which, if I am defending, is as close as I want Karim Benzema to my goal, ever. The French did generate some attacking down both flanks, notably from Ribéry and the excellent Jérémy Ménez, who I had not seen at all this year at PSG. In the end, though, they had little bite to the attack, looked dull against the English, impotent against the Swedes, and just not nearly good enough against the Spanish.While the French played with a number nine who didn´t act like one, the Spanish experimented, and looked at their best, playing 4-6-0. However, there were many (somewhat justifiable) complaints of the Spanish being dull. The Spanish possession is a massive defensive weapon -- you can´t score against them if you can never get the ball -- but without an incisive edge, it was left late (Croatia) or not at all (kicks from the spot with Portugal.) As many expected, Spain had another gear that they found in the first five minutes of the final, flying at the Italians from all angles. Silva scored with his head and Jordi Alba burst into the penalty area like Ian Rush ca. 1984. Neither are number nines, but the game always needs someone getting there like a house on fire, and that´s what Spain did.
Injuries change everything
If Dennis Rammedahl doesn´t come up lame, Denmark likely go through instead of Portugal. Although Spain was bossing the game and unlikely to be turned over, Thiago Motta coming up injured just the hour mark (less than five minutes after his introduction) ended the final as a competitive affair. Over the past 30 years, hamstring injury rates have not substantially changed. With the massive amounts of money (at club level) and national pride at international level, not to mention the job of the manager at stake, I am surprised at the lack of progress in injury prevention, particularly with hamstrings, and especially in a summer tournament after a full professional season. A recent (2008) clinical trial by Engbretsen et. al. at the Oslo Sports Trauma center showed only 21% compliance with rehabilitative training among elite players designated high risk for re-injury. Mendigucia, Alentorn-Geli, and Brughelli wrote an excellent analysis of the current shortcomings of the reductionist approach to injury treatment in a recent (2012) article in British Journal of Sports Medicine. They argue for a more holistic approach that considers mobility and strength variables, along with movement efficiency, motor sequencing, and, importantly, behavior and environment.A more holistic approach that is athlete centered, working towards high level of compliance with the rehab protocols and supported by good science across a wide range of variables? Hmm -- yoga, anyone? I won´t say Motta or Rammedahl wouldn´t have been hurt had their respective federations shelled out a few grand to bring a yoga coach along for the ride to Polkraine, but Denmark couldn´t have been any more eliminated.
England are nowhere near good enough (USA either)
Being an American with a lot of English friends, I hear much about ¨we just need X and we can win the Cup.¨ (Be that cup WC2014 or Eur2012). The truth is that the Golden Generation never were that good, and in the US, we still don´t have a fullback, Donovan is still a role player, and Dempsey can´t carry an entire squad. It´s not just that compared to Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal, the English were inferior at every position, and they were, but ultimately the squad looked tired and uncreative, like they had a long plane ride from 1977 when the style of football they were playing may have worked. The game is too fast, too technical, too fluid for the English or American player. While England played well, the gap between the game at the top level and what the English play, much less the Americans, is so big that it cannot be reasonably hoped that either country do better than round of 16 in Brazil.The youth systems in both countries must get away from focusing on winning competitions and instead look to develop players. What separates the Spanish, Italian, and German players from the English (or the Brazilian, Uruguayan, Argentine from the American) is match intelligence: visual processing, chunking of information, anticipation. Those skills are developed at ages 10-14, but give almost no competitive advantage until at least 16 and really only at 18-22. The skills that produce a competitive advantage at 10-14 -- dribbling speed, first touch, physical size, physical speed -- all either level out or don´t make much difference at 18-22. Unless we fix the youth system, England can go the way of Hungary, and the USA never come to the fore. Instead, we will both watch Premier League matches on Fox and Sky respectively and say, ¨too many damn foreigners¨ when the truth is our kids aren´t good enough to play with the foreigners in the EPL because we were too damn worried about beating the next town over in a U12 derby than actually teaching the kids how to think the game.
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