February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The disparity between the two countries doesn’t end with just the number of badges. Any Spanish coach aspiring to work at a serious level in the game will have to spend 550 hours taking the “A” course. In England, the same course of study requires just 240 hours. Despite the fact all these badges are UEFA issue, there’s a similar difference in the hours required for the Pro License – the English version takes 245 hours, the Spanish 750! Not to mention either that, unlike in England, the Spanish demand any coach willing to work in any of their three professional divisions or with elite youth players must have that highest qualification.
Those numbers are important to any Irish football fan because England is where we continue to send our best young players to finishing school, and in all the brouhaha about Thierry Henry’s malevolence, a lot of what happened over the two legs against the French last month was ignored. Notwithstanding the vigor and the passion evinced by Giovanni Trapattoni’s side, how many times did an Irish player gain possession and hoof it needlessly away at the earliest opportunity? Far too often. On both nights.
We remain technically inferior to so many other countries. Beyond the injustice of the handball, which deprived us of penalties rather than guaranteed qualification, remember, we are ignoring the lessons available here. As of now, Ireland has qualified for one major tournament since 1994. Some would argue that this is about our level. More however contend that we could aspire to better if we made more use of the resources we have. They don’t mean the players who are, for various reasons, outside the squad either. They mean that we could overhaul our coaching and playing system so that we produce footballers who don’t regard the ball as a hot potato.
That’s what the French did after they failed to reach the 1994 World Cup finals. They haven’t done too badly since. We mightn’t have their money but that shouldn’t stop us from aspiring to do better. There was a serious national debate in the English media when they failed to qualify for the European Championships last year. Rather than just lambasting Steve McLaren, journalists asked pertinent questions about the type of players being produced by the best English clubs. Everything from the size of goalposts used in Under-12 games to the dimensions of the fields used for schoolboys was up for discussion.
Are we that distracted by the buffoons marching on the French Embassy the other week that we can’t have a similar inquest here? That we need one is self-evident. John O’Shea is the only Irish player who features regularly in the Champions’ League (another damning stat about the quality of our individuals), and at least a dozen times he took possession against the French and turned it into a fifty-fifty ball. Instead of holding until a free man presented himself, O’Shea lashed it downfield where Kevin Doyle (who battled bravely in the face of awful service) then had to compete in the air for it. Good teams cherish the ball. We don’t. And the question is what are we drilling into our kids to make them react this way?
O’Shea was the best young defender of his generation in Ireland and Manchester United came knocking on his door. A few years later, they were after Paul McShane and signed him up at 16 years old. Sure, they moved him on four years later but there’s no shame in that and he’s managed to carve out a career at the top level since. Nobody would begrudge McShane his living but from a larger point of view, what does it say about us as a football nation that a guy this limited with the ball and that agricultural in his defending is the best young defender to come through in six years?
If that’s not proof enough our structures at under-age level are faulty, consider this. Last year, Sean McCaffrey brought an Irish Under-17 team to a European Championships that was lit up by the latest from the Spanish conveyor belt. Without wanting to denigrate their achievement in reaching the final eight (a feat in itself), a lot of the best young Irish players looked technically deficient compared to their French, Spanish and Swiss opponents. The Irish boys were game, enthusiastic and well-organized but some of their touch and composure was much less impressive. Doesn’t that sound familiar?
Most of that Irish squad were either at English clubs already or on their way. How many of them though will ever develop truly impressive technique?
Despite the appointment of Wim Koevermans as the FAI’s International Performance Director, something is wrong with the way the game is being taught in Ireland. This issue is compounded by the fact the same problems exist in England too. The difficulty we face is our best and brightest leave here and go over there. If they were leaving Cork for Paris or Munich or Barcelona, they might become more technically astute and more comfortable with the ball.
But as long as they don’t, we will have to resign ourselves to producing half-decent, ultra-competitive players who are capable every now and again of punching above their weight with fire and grit rather than technique and skill. We learned to our cost in Paris that’s nearly always not going to be enough.