Great Britain all time XI

With the Olympics fast approaching and Great Britain forming a football (soccer) team specifically for the London games, I thought it would be fun to look at not who will be in the starting 11 this summer but who would make the greatest ever line-up of players from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. I wanted to incorporate at least 2 players from each country to make a fair and ballanced team in a traditional 4-4-2 formation

Goalkeeper
When looking at the greatest goalkeeprs from each nation, it's sometimes hard to narrow it down to one, while Wales have the stand out Neveille Southall and Northern Ireland have the one and only Pat Jennings, Scotland have Andy Goram while England have Gordon Banks and Peter Shilton (Shilton was capped 125 times, his dentist must of been able to retire early). Each of these has a claim to be considered the greatest British 'keeper but ultimately I have gone with Gordon Banks, his saves helped England to win the World Cup in 1966, 'that save' against Pele in particular stands out.

Right Back
In this position I considered Scotland's Danny McGrain, Jimmy Nicholl for Northern Ireland and England's Emlyn Hughes but ultimately and maybe controversially, I have opted for Gary Neville, the reason is that he won 85 caps and played at a high level of consistency, he gave support to whoever was on the right of midfield and was able there in defence to block any attacks coming at him

Left Back



Enlgand's Ashley Cole is similar to Gary Neville in reasons why he should be selected, it's only a matter of time until he reaches the 100 cap mark. Dave Mackay from Scotland was a model defender who George Best said was 'the hardest defender i ever played against'. Wales have Gareth Bale, just starting to find his feet and beginning his career and previously Joey Jones who amassed 72 appearances but ultimately i have gone with Mal Donaghy. The Luton Town defender finished with 91 games for Northern Ireland and similar to Gary Neville, had a level of consistency and support to drive his team.

Centre Backs
It isn't hard to pick the two players that would play at the centre of defence, it's more difficult to decide which one would be captain, there are MANY names that could be considered for this postition but the best ever Welsh player is generally considered to be John Charles and for England it's Bobby Moore so i have gone for them at centre back, not many forwards past or present would get much of an oppurtunity against these two.


Right Midfield
This was possibly the easiest position to fill, Wales' Cliff Jones was good, Stanley Matthews was better but George....Best. Northern Ireland's George Best was arguably the most naturally gifted and skilful player of all time in the whole world, not just Great Britain, oddly he only played 37 games for his country (Emile Heskey somehow played 62 games for England!) though he scored 9 goals, an average of almost 1 in 4 games, not bad for a winger. In his prime Best was tremendously skilled,  an innovative footballer. Unsurpassed on dribble and penetration, would often pass off the score after rather than take the goal himself. He was one of a few players with virtually ambidextrous ball control with both feet. David Beckham played 115 times for England, the most capped outfield player for any of the Great Britian sides, yet he doesn't compare to the Best


Left Midfielder
England's John Barnes won 79 caps and played in a side that reached the World Cup semi-finals, while Scotland's Billy Liddell played 28 times for the Scots and twice played for a Great Britain XI against Europe in 1947 and 1955 but one man stands above all others in this position, Ryan Giggs. The most decorated player in the history of English football, Ryan Giggs has been a mainstay of Manchester United's highly successful era under Sir Alex Ferguson. He holds a plethora of records in both English and European football.With United, Giggs has won ten league titles, four FA Cups, three League Cups and two Champions Leagues. He also played 64 times for Wales yet like George Best, never played in a major international tournament. He is being strongly linked with playing in this summer's Olympic games, he could be like a Big Brother to the younger players.

Central Midfield 
These two positions were always going to be controversial to fill as so many players would be overlooked, England's Captain Marvel Bryan Robson and Paul Gascoigne, Wales' Gary Speed, Scotland's Graham Souness but ultimately I have gone for two players who always consistently played to a high level and would drive the team forward. Scotland's Billy Bremner would rival Bobby Moore and John Charles for the captaincy, when the team loses possesion he'll be there to win it back, and play the ball forward. Equally Northern Ireland's Danny Blanchflower would control the game alongside Bremner, tackling back and playing the ball past the opposition.


Attackers
This is the easiest position of all to select by selecting the two highest scorer's across the four nations....or is it. First pick is simple, the leading international scorer in British history is Sir Bobby Charlton, England's all time leading goalscorer netted 49 times in 106 games and his goals led England to the World Cup final in 1966. Second is harder, two Scot's, Denis Law and Kenny Dalglish (Liverpool fans have always thought of Kenny Dalglish as one of their own, that feeling must be even stronger now he's unemployed) scored 30 goals each, though Law did this in just 55 games, I will select Dalglish as he caused teams more problems and his trophy haul at Liverpool shows the quality he had for club and country.


So there it is, selecting players from all 4 nations is never an easy feat though comparing the skills and qualities of players across generations is always going to be an eternal debate, feel free to comment with any suggestions for who you'd pick or with my team who you wouldn't pick. In total the aforementioned 11 players amassed 814 appearances and 122 goals between them, they would be tough to beat.

Euro 2012, new stars set to shine

With the 2012 European Championships due to start today, it's a chance for young players to shine, players that have established themselves at their clubs and are just finding their feet at international level. Traditionally, the Euros have been a platform for younger players to make a name for themselves and here I look at 7 players who could be household names after the tournament ends in three weeks

Danny Welbeck
Manchester United and England
21 year old centre forward
International games/goals: 5/1
Welbeck came through the youth ranks at Manchester United and after loan spells at Preston North End and Sunderland, last season was his first full senior season with the Premier League runner ups. Keeping out the likes of Dimitar Berbatov and Javier Hernandez he went on to make 30 appearances and score 9 goals in that time, mainly while partnering his England colleague Wayne Rooney. Making his international debut in March 2011 he has played 5 games for England to date, scoring his only goal in his last game against Belgium. Oddly, with Wayne Rooney suspended for the first two games, Welbeck will look to replace the man he partners at club level.

Jodi Alba
Valencia and Spain
23 year old left sided defender/midfielder
International games/goal: 4/0
Having been an ever present in the Valencia team since 2009, Alba is now getting recognition at international level, with Capdevilla not in the squad (he was starting left back when Spain won Euro 2008 and World Cup 2010), Alba is an exciting prospect to watch who could well move on to another club after this tournament (both Manchester United and Barcelona are reportedly interested), this is one exciting left back who could really make his mark over the next few weeks

Rui Patricio
Sporting Lisbon and Portugal
24 year old goalkeeper
International games/goals: 11/0
Having made his debut for Sporting in 2006, he has played almost 150 games for his club and is looking to cement himself as his countries no. 1. Having started the last 5 games for Portugal, it does seem manager Paulo Bento will stick with him and at just 24, this is the first tournament of potentially many that will feature Rui Patricio. If Portugal are to do well then he will have to perform though with the likes of Christiano Ronaldo and Nani in the team, the weight of a nation isn't on his shoulders, Portugal could be a very dangerous team in this tournament and one to watch.

Mario Gotze
Borussia Dortmund and Germany
20 year old attacking midfielder
International games/goals: 14/2
Germany are favourites to win the tournament just behind Spain and scarily, they have selected only one player over 30 so they will nly get better over the next few years. Gotze is a product of the Dortmund youth academy, making his first team debut in 2009 and making 25 appearances for them last season where he was part of the league and cup winning side.  Ironically making his debut in November 2010 with Andre Schurrle, both players simultaneously became the first players born in the re-unified Germany to represent their country. In less than 2 years Gotze has scored 2 goals in his 14 international games and is ready to take the world by storm, having already allegedly turned down a transfer to Arsenal, Dortmund may have to work hard to keep one of the best young players in the world right now after Euro 2012.

Christian Eriksen
Ajax and Denmark
20 year old midfielder
International games/goals: 22/2
The youngest player at the World Cup in 2010 and has spent the last 2 years having a rising influence on that Danish squad. In February 2011 after a match against England, Frank Lampard and Rio Ferdinand both praised the midfielders performance. Having become a main part of the Ajax team over the past 2 and a half years and winning league titles, this is a tournament set up for Eriksen to make a name for himself and the 20 year old WILL start for a country that has nothing to lose, this Danish wonderkid has already attracted the attention of some of Europe's other major sides.

Alan Dzagoev
CSKA Moscow and Russia
21 year old attacking midfielder
International games/goals: 20/4
By the time the World Cup heads to Russia in 2018, Dzagoev should be the figurehead head of the Russian side and potentially the face of the tournament. Making his debut for CSKA Moscow in 2008, Dzagoev has been an ever-present for his club ever since and already won the Russian cup 3 times. When he made his debut for Russia in October 2008 he became the youngest ever outfield player for Russia and gone on to score 4 goals in 20 games for the Soviets. This set piece specialist has already attracted attention from clubs such as Manchester United and Tottenham and is someone who is a diligent hard worker and can achieve whatever he wants to achieve.

Yann M'Vila
Rennes and France
21 year old defensive midfielder
International games/goals: 19/1
As of writing M'Vila was still in the French squad though had taken a knock in the weekend fixture against Serbia. Losing M'Vila would be a blow to French coach Laurent Blanc and disrupt his plans, that's how good this young defensive midfielder is for his country. Having played 130 games for his club Rennes since 2009, in August 2010 he won his first cap for France and has become a mainstay of a rejuvenated France squad that spectacularly imploded at the last World Cup. Strongly linked with a move to Arsenal, opposition sides won't enjoy coming up against the tough tackling Frenchman who will look to restore some national pride.

Why North Americans don't like soccer

Why don't Americans like soccer?

With U.S.A. competing in their 5th finals in a row (England are only playing in their fourth after ironically failing to qualify for USA '94) and a team ranked 14th in the world by FIFA (not to mention the largest bonus scheme for the event for any nation in World Cup history, potentially worth $20.6m of $895,000 per player for winning the tournament (about £620,000), I'm taking a look at why a country with such a large base to pick players (population approximately 309m), evidently a large money figure to improve players and training complexes, this is a country that could be a world leader in the world's most popular sport, yet they choose not to have an interest.

Despite decades of strenuous efforts to promote soccer to American youth and sports fans and despite the phenomenal success of the American women's soccer team in international competition, 'soccer' remains the neglected stepchild of the American sports scene. The fact the country don't progress past the group stages hardly raises an eyebrow within the nation, compare this to the black cloud that descended over the country when the American men's basketball team failed to win the gold medal at the 2004 Olympics.

So why don't Americans like 'soccer'? there appear to be two basic explanations, the first is 'marketplace' as sports in this country are filled with baseball, basketball, American football and to a lesser degree, ice hockey, leaving no room for popularity to grow. Andrei Markovits, the Boston Globe's soccer correspondent wrote;-

'America filled its own sports space with three games thus 'crowding out' soccer's chances of becoming part of America's sports culture'

I'm not convinced, marketplaces are inherently dynamic, if 'soccer' were a worthy object of American sports fans interests, it would enjoy greater popularity.....but it doesn't. Which brings me to the second common explanation for it's lack of popularity and the answer i get when asking most Americans why they aren't excited about the World Cup, " 'soccer' is boring". They like high scoring games (basketball scores are rarely under 100, American football has high scores) but in my opinion, a goal scored in football is rarer than a 'touchdown' and even rarer compared to a 'slam dunk', so what that elusive goal is scored, ear shattering howls of euphoria erupt from players, announcers and fans alike, as if their very souls were being released from the depths of hell, compared to a '2 pointer' in basketball which gets another round of applause.

Goals are indeed a rare commodity in 'soccer', so much so that 'soccer' is essentially, a zero sum game. The number of goals is meager, it never grows (a 4-0 thrashing isn't all that common), so games are fought over an intensity that is almost never found in American sports, this isn't boring, it's just deeply unsatisfying to Americans brought up on deskilled levels of competitive games where the final result isn't applauded as much as in 'soccer'.

The fact of the matter is, Americans don't subscribe to the 'zero sum' mentality, nor have the belief system nor the temperament for such an endless sport as 'soccer', they like their sports teams to score and to score plenty, they believe this gives value to their 'buck', why labour for the sake of labouring, it's perhaps a lack of sophistication or maybe a large enjoyment of exceptionalism, needing goals galore to gain any enjoyment, whatever it is, i feel it's a shame that such a patriotic nation won't be fully behind a team and able to take joy at competing with the world's best, their interior sports (baseball has the World Series, well......American teams take part as only really America plays baseball, same with American football, a few small pockets of people may play the sport but most nations would play rugby instead) meaning they only compete against themselves. Maybe this tournament will catch the public eye, it can only be for the benefit of the sport if it does.

Now, let's look at what some of the American celebrity's are saying about the tournament, High School Musical star Zac Effron said he can't wait for the States' game on Saturday....against Manchester United!

Actor Jason Segel (Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Slackers) called the England team 'the UK' and got his dates wrong saying 'my best friend is British and left the room crying five years ago during the World Cup'

Jackie Chan said his favourites to win are 'Barcelona and Milan'.  I approached wrestling personality Jeremy Borash to do an interview for the blog, the reply i got back on 31st May, 12 days before a ball is even kicked, was 'sorry for the delay, hope you enjoyed the World Cup!'

Other stars like Eva Mendes and Vanessa Hudgens had no idea the tournament was about to start but to give him credit, rapper Snoop Dog was more knowledgeable, saying 'I believe Brazil are going to win'

Comparing British and American sport

   The most dominant sport by far in the United States is ‘American’ football, the most dominant in the UK by far is ‘soccer’, only by virtue of the fact that sports like baseball, hockey and basketball get a fair bit of coverage in the States compared to rugby, cricket and boxing in the UK could I have the opinion that the dominant sport in the UK is bigger and more popular than in the States (though NFL runs from September to February and they play less than half the games compared to soccer in the UK). Though the English Premiership (top national soccer league) is the most profitable league in the world (not bad considering there are 229 international teams, each with a league of some sort), Forbes recently compiled the 50 most valuable sports teams http://blogs.forbes.com/kurtbadenhausen/2011/07/12/the-worlds-50-most-valuable-sports-teams/ where, although the former English champions were ranked no. 1 on the list ($1.86billion/£1.14billion), all 32 NFL (America’s American football league) had each of it’s 32 teams listed in the 50 compared to a total of 3 English ‘soccer’ teams and 7 ‘soccer’ clubs in total. This shows that as a sports league, the NFL is the most financially rich sports league in the world; amazing considering that about 95% of the global audience IS Americans!

   I recently went to see the Nashville Sounds baseball team, though I saw a handful of Sounds shirts, I also saw 2 Manchester United shirts (oddly, the only other English soccer team shirt I have seen is Derby County which was in a doughnut shop in Detroit), so this shows that the most valuable sports team sells merchandise all over the world, it made me smile. The most valuable NFL team is the Dallas Cowboys ($1.5billion/£0.91billion) though I can’t say I’ve ever seen someone wearing any of their merchandise.

I was lucky enough to spend a day at a county soccer tournament for children of various ages in Macon County, Tennessee and there is two huge differences between participation in the States and the UK, first is the amount of children joining in and wanting to play, in the UK at each age there would be a team, ie under 6, under 7, under 8, all the way up to under 16 or 18 and then an adult team and in most cases, there is more than one team at that age level and teams travel from across the area to play each other, at the event I went to, they have up to four teams but only at under 4, under 6, under 8, under 12 and under 18, a 13 year old would have to play against people 5 years older than them which means they can have less physical ability and lose interest. The other point is that they have mixed sex teams at all ages, I have never seen this before and an 18 year old boy tackling a 13 year old girl seems….wrong, though ultimately, the people that want to play, get the opportunity to play and that’s all that counts.

   There is a huge difference in crowds at sporting events between the two countries, at the baseball game I went to, it was a family event, husbands, wives and their children all went together, it was a pleasant atmosphere where if the home team hit a home run or caught someone out they cheered, if the opposition did, the home fans applauded. This is completely different to most sports games in the UK, go to watch a local game such as Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur  (2 local teams from north London less than 4 miles apart) and you’ll hear every swearword you can imagine and a whole load of new ones, there will be anti-Semitic chants towards Tottenham due to links with the Jewish community and anti-French abuse aimed at Arsenal as they have a French manager and a handful of French players, last November I was in north London to attend a concert and arrived early, this was on the day of a match between these two and it was almost impossible to find a pub or bar that would let us in as we couldn’t show allegiance to either side, only ticket holders would be allowed to enter drinking establishments to avoid any confrontation and violence. Compared to a baseball game, the only confrontation would be fans wanting to buy the other fans a drink or congratulating them for their team’s performance.  This was a culture shock for me and I’d love to attend an NFL game to see if this is the same crowd that attends American football games or if It trends to a more male dominated arena (literally). The only difference I can think of is passion, though I can’t believe people could be more passionate that American fans, before any event, they play the national anthem, someone will hold the American flag and everyone stands with their left hand on their heart and sings along (I stand but feel a traitor if I was to copy the action and sing) and I have huge respect at that national pride and that shows the passion Americans have. Therefore I can’t give an excuse to the abuse heard in English football/soccer, it stems from a past of hooliganism and gangs that went purely to fight other fans, this was supposed to of been wiped out in the 90’s and I can only suggest the physical abuse has transferred to vocal abuse and still exists today. It would be interesting to take an MLS soccer fan to watch Manchester United play Liverpool (traditionally the biggest rivalry to England) and see what they made of it.

   Another American tradition is wrestling, not amateur like in the Olympics but the showmanship and spectacle like WWE/F, TNA or WCW. It seems most towns have a wrestling promotion locally as again, it’s a family tradition to go watch. The show we went to was run by SWA, a promotion based in Kentucky http://swawrestling.2ya.com/ who with roughly 75  people in attendance (mostly out back smoking or running after their children) put on a show where it was evident the grapplers in the ring where living their dreams, this has to be the epitome of the American dream (not a reference to Dusty Rhodes), working all week and on a Saturday night, they feel like kings as they wrestle. The quality of the wrestling isn’t what you’d see on TV but why would it be, these guys are amateurs and most likely not getting paid, I’d highly recommend it.

Homosexuality in sport

We live in an ever increasingly more liberal and relaxed society in this day and age, if someone is gay, what does it matter? I have worked with both male and female homosexuals and been able to say one or two have become close friends and I enjoy that they are comfortable and proud about their sexuality. In all professions it's not an issue but why is sport, seen as a predominately heterosexual environment, an area where athletes are either simply not gay, or most likely uncomfortable with announcing the their true selves..

It's estimated that 6% of the UK's population is gay, that's roughly one in 20 people (no pun intended) so for an average sports team, that would mean 1-2 members would have a different orientation to the rest of the squad, yet how many sports stars could you name that have come out?

The UK's most popular sport is football (soccer) and to date, Justin Fashanu is the first and only footballer to have openly 'come out' which he did in October 1990 in The Sun tabloid newspaper, Fashanu commit suicide in 1997 after sexual allegation charges were brought against him by a 17 year old, in his suicide note he wrote "I realised that I had already been presumed guilty. I do not want to give any more embarrassment to my friends and family.", the same paper that was happy to 'out' him had constantly linked him with unnamed MPs, football players and pop stars, which Fashanu had to frequently deny were untrue. It seems the same media outlet, The Sun, that was happy to publicise someone's sexuality, was also happy to wilfully imply sexual encounters and this would of had the reverse effect of what Fashanu intended and he was quite vocal in how this made him feel ostracised, particularly from his own family.

From this experience, it's hardly a surprise that other footballers would be tempted to 'come out the closet' in a similar fashion. The simple fact is that tabloid newspapers would have a field day with joke headlines or constant photos of shirtless hugging not to mention the barrage of accusations with people of the same sex such as Justin Fashanu had to constantly deny. On 19th April 2012, just over a month after I'm writing this, The Sun newspaper had the front page headline of 'Jessie Gay' where reality TV judge Jessie J was publicly outed as a lesbian, in this day and age I would argue that isn't news, let alone front page headline news. It also felt compelled to give the news that Simon Cowell, a rival reality TV judge, wasn't gay! They actually wrote, on the front of their paper that someone wasn't gay.....this is 2012!! That same day there were other news stories such as 3 soldiers killed in Afghanistan, French elections and the UK's largest supermarket Tesco reporting a downfall in profits due to the recession, none of that matters though as someone is gay and someone else isn't.

   The way the media would use such a 'story' has to be the main reason that sports stars would be tentative to be comfortable with coming out. In all honesty, Lionel Messi is considered the best footballer on the planet right now, if he was gay, would that mean that fans didn't want him to sign for their team? Of course not. Would rival fans boo him? Of course not. Would the tabloid press have and endless amount of sly comments and innuendo? yes, constantly. Just as The Sun did with Justin Fashanu, it was happy to publicise his sexuality to sell papers and it was happy to turn on him in an attempt to sell more and after how Justin Fashanu's life ended, who could blame sports stars from feeling a need to stay silent?