England players go into a frenzy after a late Daniel Sturridge goal sealed victory for them over Wales
A well-known truth about football is that the success of a country’s national league does not automatically mean that their national team will be successful as well. If anybody knows this to be a fact, then it’s us Englishmen who have seen our country do miserably on the international stage for ages even though the Premier League is undoubtedly the best league in the world.
However, there is another side to this argument, which only becomes visible when you take a look at some other countries. Germany for example, have been the epitome of a footballing giant for a long time now. Their national league, though, has been decent to say the least. But over the course of the last few years, the Bundesliga has been undergoing a rather noticeable waxing period. In fact, they’ve reached a stage where even though the top two spots are dominated by Bayern and Dortmund, the standings of the remaining sixteen teams in the league cannot be foretold as everyone is beating everyone.
England fans watch on as the Three Lions face off against a tough Wales side in their Euro 2016 group game
The Premier League has always been like what the Bundesliga is now, but the last season was truly landmark in terms of all-round competitiveness. So, if the Bundesliga being such a tight affair can lead to the German national team being super successful, why can’t the same occur for England? Well, the answer is pretty simple, and it’s the number of native players playing in each league.
In the Bundesliga, the number of foreign players stands at 50%. The Premier League, however, has 65% of all its players coming from abroad. What this means is, the Bundesliga being more competitive allows a larger number of German players to up their game while the Premier League being competitive affects a smaller number of English players.
Despite the bad memories of our national team’s failed efforts of the past, England fans have a lot of reason to be hopeful this Euro campaign. Having mentioned the lack of English players doing well in the Premier League to be a reason for our country’s failure at the international level, I must also point out that the story of this Premier League season was a bit different.
Daniel Sturridge looks on as his right footed shot hit the back of the net past a hapless Wayne Hennessey
Rather than having foreign players dominate the charts, it was a host of English players who caught the eye with their fantastic displays over the course of the last season. The major part of the England resurrection is down to the rise of Tottenham and their quintet of stars who’ve kicked on from a great club campaign to help their country on the big stage. Harry Kane, Eric Dier, Delle Alli, Kyle Walker and Danny Rose form the core of the current England side along with help from Daniel Sturridge, Wayne Rooney, Jamie Vardy and Joe Hart.
The individual performances of these lads have been brilliant and it we can certainly hope that they can replicate their club form for their country. Two good performances against Russia and Wales have certainly raised our expectations but in a tournament as competitive as the Euros, we’re going to have to really be on top of our game if we want to go all the way.
