ONLY the English media & those fans fooled by the hype of EPL were surprised by the result……most fans across Europe were simply bemused with slight contempt for a hapless England side.
To keep things in perspective however it must be noted that England have only featured in a single major final in their entire footballing history!….and that was at home in 1966 in the controversial final vs West Germany.
However, what is really hurting England now is the unnecessary marketing hype that is created every year by the media about the EPL!
In tournament after tournament the same sad sorry story is played out:
English media creates a huge hype based on "players from the best league in the world!" (nonsense!)………the team disappoints….the media explodes in shock & horror…….and then the next EPL season starts & all failures are forgotten on the collective selfpraising hype that is the EPL marketing machine……and the players fall for it again!
Whilst the EPL marketing machine generates unrivalled megamoney, it has several negative impacts on the game in England:
- Most obviously, young English talented players do not get a chance to break into regular first team football & their technical development is lacking in depth compared to many of their European counterparts
- This vicious cycle means EPL clubs resort to buying foreign players to fill the lack of depth in technical quality of English players
- Therefore, most critical positions in most EPL teams are filled by foreign players
- Relative success of players in EPL is hyped up by the media to the point that even the players are fooled about all the hype.
In fact, whilst most regular followers of major mainland European leagues, in particular Spanish German, Italian leagues (& to a lesser extent French, Portuguese & Dutch leagues) admit EPL is more exciting to watch, they also clearly identify that European leagues are tactically & technically superior to the EPL.
Sad week for England, as the old Empire exited Europe twice in the space of a few days……..
Ironically, prior to Euro 2016 most English speaking commentators dismissed Italy as a slow sluggish side in transition devoid of playmakers & goalscorer……and that is exactly how England could be described vs Iceland!
Meanwhile Italy are now the clear favourites having eliminated Spain convincingly & in doing so ending Spain's era of dominance in the world of football……although Spain will be back as a force in World Cup 2018……..sadly the same cannot be said about the out of depth English side.
The quarter final pairing of Italy vs get many is worthy of a final and I predict the winner will go on to be crowned the European Champions.
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