Unfortunately the England team are over hyped by the same media who slaughter them when they fail. The truth is the players really aren't THAT good. Allegedly this is all the foreigners fault (as they are stopping the locals getting first team football), but a quick look at youth setups in Germany, France, Spain, Holland and beyond shoes that the FA are way behind the times in youth development - surely its cheaper for a club to use their own talent than buy it in from elsewhere? If we look at the Dutch they have been producing world class footballers for decades from a population of less than 17 million. By comparison England has a population of around 53 million. Even Spain has a population of just 43 million (and its actually declining) yet just look at the success they have had in football - even at club level where most players are still Spanish. How many players in the current England team could hold down a first team place at Barcelona for example?
Until the best prospects in England are able to receive the best coaching from an early age (like elsewhere) rather than having no choice but to attend inferior setups until old enough to join one of the big clubs (or at least a smaller club with decent facilities) then not much is likely to change. This means at the very least the big clubs investing in the smaller clubs facilities and coaching and working in partnership to nurture talent (such as they do in Holland) rather than working against each other. In return the smaller clubs not only get better facilities but also a steady revenue stream.
However, things could be worse for England. My National team got beaten 4-2 by Luxembourg!
