How Roy Hodgson Took England Backwards In His Four Years In Charge.
By Ewah Chika.
When Roy Hodgson was appointed by the English FA as Fabio Cappelo's replacement in 2012 a few months to the Euro's in Poland and Ukraine he promised to take the team forward but four years on he has done exactly the opposite taking the team backwards.
Hodgson wasn't the favourite to replace Cappelo as everyone expected Tottenham's Harry Rednapp to be announced as the replacement given his achievements and success in White Hart Lane. Hodgson's appointment not only ruined Tottenham's season as they lost out on the league title as they lost out on
top four finish after climbing to second in table before Hodgson's appointment . Hodgson's appointment had a mental impact on not just Rednapp but his team as Tottenham never recovered which saw the sacking of Rednapp at the end of the season. Speaking five languages and having coached in different countries and continents including national teams like United Arab Emirates and Switzerland, Inter Milan (Italy), Malmo (Sweden) to mention but a few, a lot was expected from the new Three Lions coach after leading a below average Fulham to the final of the Europa League beating heavyweights like Juventus on the way in the 2009/2010 season where they were beaten by Quinque Flores' Atletico Madrid. Hodgson was in charge of England in the Euro's in 2012 where they qualified from the group of death which had France and Sweden before losing to Italy on penalties.
This was to be Hodgson's best tournament as his Three Lions team made history exiting the group stage at the FIFA 2014 World Cup in Brazil in a group that contained feather weight Costa Rica who advanced with Uruguay as Italy and England were sent packing. Hodgson selected a young inexperienced side for the tournament as expectations were low before the tournament. As if that wasn't enough the former Blackburn Rovers manager once demonstrated his incompetence when he left out Jermain Defoe who might be advanced in age but scored 15 league goals for a relegation threatened Sunderland, Danny Drinkwater who was a spine of Leicester City's title winning side and Mark Noble who captained a resurgent and exciting West Ham side that beat the likes of Manchester City , Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool to finish 6th. In their place came Jack Wilshere who played only three league games last season after struggling with injury for two years, Jordan Henderson who has not played more than 15 league games in the past two years as a result of injury and fitness, Marcus Rashford who until February was a reserve player for Manchester United before injury crisis forced Luis Van Gaal to give him a chance in the senior team and Raheem Sterling who is England's most expensive player (£49 million) but has been disgracefully poor not just in the tournament but all season.
England were beaten by an inexperienced Iceland team making their first major tournament debut and a country with a population of 300,000 which is the size of London Borough of Lewisham. The loss has come to be one of England's worst sporting defeats in history together with the loss to the USA in 1950 in Brazil. England relied so much on their pace and energy with no technique while Iceland played a more coherent football . If Hodgson was expecting the Scandinavians to sit back and soak up pressure, he was wrong as Lars Lagerback's side came out smoking and was the more attacking side after going behind to a Wayne Rooney penalty. This is a team that best Holland home and away in the qualifiers and lost out in the playoffs for the 2014 FIFA World Cup . The defeat is contrary to the belief of the English team and fans (arrogance and overconfidence) who saw the Scandinavians as a walk over after they (Iceland) beat Austria to finish second in their group. Just like the coaches before him Kelvin Keegan, Sven Goran Ericsson, Steve McClaren and Fabio Cappelo, Hodgson failed to inspire the Three Lions beyond the quarter-finals of any tournament but will end up as the worst of the bunch together with McClaren after losing to an below average Iceland based on paper.
Iceland on their own has been underestimated by so many people with no one knowing that the country has the best youth coaching set-up in Europe unlike England whose Premier League is bent on sacrificing the future for today's result . Iceland has one UEFA B licence coach for every 826 population compared to England's one for every 11,000.
At 68, Hodgson might be out of touch with reality and might be considering retirement after the disgrace on Monday night and he will leave on a low having achieved nothing spectacular with the team in his four years in charge. Hodgson is not the only problem as there is a dearth of talent in the country hence an overhaul of the country's football on all level like the one implemented in Germany after the shock Euro 2004 group stage exit is necessary .
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