England remained idle today as most of Europe's
other national teams played World Cup qualification matches or
preparatory friendly matches. England's next match, against México
at Derby County's Pride Park on May 25, will be their fourth of the year.
In contrast, it will be México's eighth of the year. It would
have been México's 10th of the year, but two matches that had been
scheduled fell through at the last minute because of logistical
difficulties.
This disparity once again underlines the lack of
team preparation that continues to hinder England in international
play. The rest of the world recognizes that team performance
hinges on team preparation and that friendly matches are crucial to
that end.
The Football Association continues to make
concessions to the demands of the Premiership's club sides and gives
short shrift to the national side's preparations. The clubs,
joined by most of the English football media and most of the fans
committed to club sides, continue
to deride friendly matches as "meaningless" exercises in a
transparently false effort to justify submission to club interests.
The upshot is that England continue to face well-prepared opposition
at a self-imposed disadvantage. They will probably have little
trouble beating México
at home next month, but they would be much better prepared for their
next World Cup qualification match in Greece on June 6 had they played
today and given new coach Sven-Göran Eriksson, who has only three
England matches under his belt, another opportunity to
build and groom his team. England's football community simply refuses to learn from past
experience.
England
Football Online