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It’s hard to conceptualize now that we enter 2021 in the clutches of the Covid variant, but what awaits us this year could be the golden summer of soccer.
The European Championships, which will conclude in London on July 11, will open the doors of these islands for a carnival of rediscovered freedoms and companionship, built around the most beautiful game in sport.
And what’s more, the idea of England winning the tournament, just a few months after the nation reeling from the depths of a deeply difficult winter, is not so fanciful.
Their three group matches, the semi-finals and the final will all be at Wembley. The team will be led by a manager who listens, adapts, delegates, and knows the value of a little modesty.
Gareth Southgate’s team is much more than that flawless striking force of Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford, and Raheem Sterling. Two players who have been wrong in the past, Jack Grealish and Phil Foden, could be the ones to bring the gold dust to a Euro Cup final, perhaps against Joachim Low’s Germany or Luis Enrique’s Spain, in 191 days. .
From today’s deeply uncertain place, with the variant beginning to take hold of football so unpredictably that a suspension from the Premier League is not unthinkable, consider for a moment what such an end could mean.
Street parties. The live broadcast in Hyde Park. Acts of remembrance appropriate for the ’66 guys we lost in 2020. Covid meant that Jack Charlton and Nobby Stiles didn’t get the send-off they so much deserved.
The carnival will not belong only to England. Scotland’s qualification, with a group match against England on Friday June 18, offers them a first tournament appearance since 1998.
Wales must venture into Rome and Baku for their group games, though from Cardiff to Caernarfon the mood of national excitement will be no less.
Some of the stars of the tournament will seem less removed from our everyday lives than before. Rashford, Jordan Henderson and Trent Alexander-Arnold have shown that players’ contribution to society doesn’t have to stop when they leave the field. The colossal salaries in the modern game have engendered cynicism about those who play it at the elite level.
In the depths of the pandemic, players like Rashford restored some faith.
Perhaps their self-confidence and articulation skills, which swept away the anti-intellectualism associated with soccer for too long, could persuade other players to follow suit this year.
The push to extinguish intolerance and racial prejudice, also led by players, will continue this year with the duly funded Kick It Out organization at last.
The highlight of a documentary on that topic, to be shown this month, is the contribution of a former white player and coach to a discussion about the bigotry faced by a black colleague.
Beneath the upper reaches of the game, not everything is wine and roses. One of the darkest moments during soccer’s existential crisis in 2020 was Project Big Picture, the proposal to hand over control of the game effectively to the top six clubs in exchange for cash to prop up the pyramid.
The October coup failed, but now we know the intentions of the elite. The inviolability of the competitive equilibrium means nothing to them and their ATMs. Who knows how that plan could be revived?
And while there are owners who have been a great asset to our national soccer life, from Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens who galvanized Aston Villa, to Steve Parish’s shrewd management of Crystal Palace, we know from the rubble of 2020 how the financial needs of clubs prey on them. to predators who lack respect for its principles and history.
There was no more miserable example last year than Wigan Athletic, bought by the obnoxious Au Yeung, who left the club in administration within a week, “like garbage thrown from a speeding car”, to quote an excellent analysis.
The EFL, which had accepted the takeover in the first place, then spat them out in League One with a 10-point deduction.
The club’s demise highlighted the trap championship clubs are falling into – spending millions to win a share of the £ 8.64 billion three-year Premier League television contract.
Wigan revealed the desperate need for proper financial fair play rules, which require clubs to spend only what they earn.
A salary cap is likely to bring sanity to Leagues One and Two in 2021, another positive impact of the 2020 crisis. Some believe this could be the year League Two and the National League merge into two regionalized divisions. in the name of financial sustainability.
Last year he called for strong leadership. Soccer got Greg Clarke and Gordon Taylor, leading the FA and PFA. Little more needs to be said.
But 2021 will bring new leaders for both organizations. If common sense prevails, Heather Rabbatts will be appointed to chair the FA, a body that provides little insight that vital issues, the long-awaited report on abuse in soccer and the link between dementia and soccer, are matters. of urgency.
And while Gary Neville is not aspiring to the post of PFA CEO, his main contribution to the proposals for a football governance review suggests that he could be persuaded to bring his common sense and intelligence to a leadership position.
Beyond the boardrooms, we are looking, above all, for something wonderfully simple: new football talents within these shores.
Regardless of political views on Brexit, the new visa regime will mean fewer imports from common players and more room for underserved English talent to emerge.
Those are more opportunities for teens like Ramello Mitchell from Southampton, Louie Barry from Villa and Lewis Bate from Chelsea. And hopefully a different route for players like Ryan Sessegnon, who managed just seven complete games after his move to Spurs before going on loan to Hoffenheim, desperate for regular football. He’s doing well.
The new visa regime will not reduce the reach of the Premier League to sign the best players in the world, although last year was testimony to the sublime consequences for those coaches who put their trust in the young talents of these shores.
There is no better example of that than Liverpool, where Curtis Jones, Rhys Williams and Nat Phillips are thriving.
The influx of international talent into the Women’s Super League doesn’t have to deter young British talent there either. This year, look for 18-year-old Maya Le Tissier in Brighton and Birmingham City’s Hannah Hampton.
In short, a beaten and bruised sport in 2020 can look forward to a sunnier, shrewder, and more spectacular 2021, lit up by the midsummer football festival.
The Euros represent England’s best chance of winning a second major trophy since Baddiel and Skinner provided the soundtrack and Paul Gascoigne and company were holding the dentist’s chair celebrations in 1996.
And if our hopes are dashed again, we will celebrate it anyway. We had once taken football for granted. The game as we once knew it will return.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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