World Cup 2010 : Changing of the guards due on Team England?

Changing of the guards at Team England?
photos from FIFA.com

Could dusk be falling on the core of English team?



After an embarassing 1-4 loss to rival Germany, English football fans might start asking whether their team was just too slow against Team Germany or Germany's youthful team was just too strong and overpowering?



Well, with the results of the game much too telling to ignore, English fans need not look long and hard for the answers as their team , it seems , was just too slow and weaker in that game against Germany!

Captain Steven Gerrard


Frank Lampard


Age must have caught up with England's "golden generation " of players like John Terry , Frank Lampard, GK David James, Ashley Cole , Joe Cole , Emile Heskey, Jamie Carragher, GK David Green and captain Steven Gerrard , at least at the World Cup stage! While he is officially not a member of the English team but definitely an icon of English football , you can even count in the famous David Beckham in this group as he is no longer a spring chicken at age 32 or so. This batch of players are either in their 30s or older with GK James the oldest at age 40 ...


David Beckham


Wayne Rooney

Let us not forget though that Wayne Rooney ,who is only 25 years old and still has many years of great football ahead of him , is not a part of this "golden generation" of English football.His performance in this tournament though was sub par!

In contrast , Germany relied mostly on its core of much disciplined youngsters mostly from its football academy ! To name just a few , the German team had Thomas Mueller, Mesut Ozeil, Lucas Podolski,Holger Badstuber for its firepower . Of course , Miroslav Klose, while no longer a youngster at 32 is the center piece of its swift attacking game .

As you might have noticed during the game , Germany's goals were off the break away and counter attacks which England failed to solve! Of course , you may blame faulty goal keeping,poor defending, lack of focus, over confidence or attitude problems but what's glaring was that the English players failed to match the speed , passing skills and efficiency of the much younger and better conditioned German team! While England enjoyed an advantage with its experience and skills , it obviously had no match for the young legs and superb conditioning of the Germans!

These to me cost England its early exit from the World Cup 2010!

An exit from future World Cups, too ,for the likes of Terry, Lampard, Gerrard , James, et al?

Where to , now , England?