Why Rooney-obsession represents the failure of English soccer

I’ll get around to fleshing out the theory of sport but this post is about an important corollary. Following the logic of Charlton-Moore equivalency, the national obsession with Rooney reveals much about why England always fall short. To put it bluntly; while Rooney represents the choice of the majority of fans as the exemplar of “world class” England will never win the Big One. In the end the fans get what they deserve. In this case, very good, a lot of effort but no cigar. A similar case in a different sport is that of the Toronto Maple Loafs, which used to dominate ice hockey but has not won a championship since 1967. While the fans pack the stadium and prefer players like Ti Domi to Mats Sundin this drought will continue.

There was a load of drivel written for a month or so that Rooney had “lost it”. A player that good, once recovered from injury, doesn’t lose it. It was a matter of time before he got his confidence back. But the hysterical unbalanced coverage of the lad continues and has now flipped the other way. Here’s a telling example. Rooney turns and shoots and hits the bar. This is greeted as genius by a host of pundits. I saw Kenny Dalglish score about 6 goals like that and I would guess that in his career he probably hit about 30. Here’s the point. Dalglish was great player and if at the end of his career Rooney could be compared to him, that’s a great compliment. But Dalglish wasn’t Zidane, Maradonna, Cruyff, Moore, etc…

Paranthetically, I’ve now had a look at Carrick and he’s good. Typically, he’s underappreciated by most of English fandom. Those who like him really like him but the majority don’t – because the majority don’t grasp that he’s a class player who does all the “little things” that make a good team better. He reminds me a little of Crerand and there’s no higher praise than that.

Finally, never underestimate confidence as a factor in sports performance. Example A: Sachin Tendulkar. I remain stunned by his lack of form. Here’s the greatest bat of his generation and, after injury, he’s struggling. It’s very hard to imagine someone that good ever lacking confidence but that’s the only explanation. He’ll come good, though. Just watch.