Shearer: England don’t have a chance
DAMNING: LACK OF YOUNG LOCAL PLAYERS AT TOP LEVEL
This contrasts with success of age-group national teams.
England’s age-group teams might have dazzled on the global stage in various youth tournaments in 2017 but the senior side is not yet of a standard to be serious title contenders at next year’s World Cup, former striker Alan Shearer said.
Gareth Southgate’s side went unbeaten in their qualifying campaign for Russia but has been criticised for lacking a creative spark after scoring only 18 goals in 10 games in a group containing lowly-ranked Lithuania and Malta.
“I don’t expect us to win the World Cup in Russia next year, even with the success of our teams below that level, be it the under-21s, the under-19s or the under-17s,” Shearer said in an interview from Bengaluru.
England’s recent record has not been inspiring with the 1966 champions, who reached the quarterfinals in 2002 and 2006, exiting in the Last-16 in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Their worst performance came at Brazil 2014 when they failed to get past the group stage, while the Euro 2016 exit in the Last-16 after defeat to Iceland left little optimism among England’s fans.
Shearer, who was in India for a Premier League fan park event where roughly 40 000 spectators watched the top matches of the weekend on a giant screen, thinks that will prove to be a nadir.
“What I would expect is to see an improvement on what we saw in France in the European Championships 18 months ago,” said Shearer, who scored 30 goals in 63 appearances for England.
“It shouldn’t be too difficult to improve on that when you consider our performance against Iceland when we were knocked out of the tournament.
In stark contrast to the national side, the England Under-20s won the World Cup in South Korea in June before their Under-19 team became European champions in Georgia the following month.
The young Lions have also won the Toulon Tournament this year and are through to the last-16 of the ongoing Under-17 World Cup in India.
Shearer, who scored twice in four games at the 1998 World Cup in France, felt one of the reasons why England were unsuccessful at the top level was because young English players are not playing in the Premier League.
“Clubs like Man City, United, Chelsea and Arsenal spend big on foreign players who the clubs feel are pretty much guaranteed for success. Managers have to deliver success tomorrow.”