Was player fitness the reason England failed in South Africa?

Written by James Beckett Monday, 05 July 2010 12:11

England World Cup Blog

In the aftermath of England's World Cup exit, Fabio Capello blamed his sides dismal performance on player fatigue. But was the reason for England's failure really down to player fitness, and would the proposed winter break in the Premier League really make a difference?

A winter break has been a long debated proposal in the English game, and you have to say it probably would improve England's chances at major tournaments. Nearly all the other leagues in Europe have at least some form of a mid season break, and England are defiantly at a disadvantage as a result.


But if you take Germany for example, on average their squad played more games then the England squad, so maybe Fabio Capello was trying to cover up a much bigger problem when he blamed player fatigue for England's under performance in South Africa.


However the fact that the German league has the winter break has to be beneficial to the national side. The near month long break from mid December to mid January allows players to come back for the second half of the season refreshed and able to withstand the strain of the games.


The unfortunate fact however is that a winter break would be very difficult to work in the English game. Unlike German football we have two cup competitions, as well as two extra teams in the Premier League. This coupled with the need for the Boxing Day, New Years Day, and early January FA Cup football means that the winter break would be difficult to schedule.


It could come in after the FA Cup third round fixtures in January for three weeks, but this would mean plenty of mid week games throughout the rest of the season, and the fact is that this would only increase player fatigue at the end of the season with a lack of rest between games.


But to be honest, it does seem a bit cliché from Capello to blame England's dismal showing on the lack of a winter break, and England must face the facts that the failure is purely down to a lack of talent in the squad.


Capello is a very proud man, and while player fatigue didn't do England favours, it wasn't the reason for failure in South Africa, and the Italian doesn't want to admit that he maybe got things wrong in his player selection, and instead attempting to shift the blame.

| More...

Comments (3)