England's World Cup exit must be a wake-up call to fix this mess or we'll be also-rans for ever! We need more coaches and facilities

  • England crashing out of the World Cup is not a surprise to our rivals
  • Are Gary Cahill and Phil Jagielka international level centre backs?
  • Roy Hodgson should have taken Ashley Cole and Michael Carrick to Brazil
  • England only have 639 3G all-weather pitches compared to 5,000 in Germany
  • England have 6,000 qualified coaches compared to 35,000 in Germany

By Rio Ferdinand

Published: 17:05 EST, 21 June 2014 | Updated: 19:16 EST, 21 June 2014

Enough is enough. England’s embarrassing early exit from the World Cup needs to be a wake-up call that something is fundamentally wrong in our national game and it needs fixing or we’ll be also-rans for ever.

To say that we are now a laughing stock is not right, but only because our major rivals didn’t start this World Cup genuinely fearing England. England crashing out is not a surprise to them, or to be honest with ourselves, to us.

In my opening column I feared England may not get out of Group D. I desperately wanted to be wrong but we could not cope when we came up against true quality: Italy and Pirlo, Uruguay and Suarez.

VIDEO Scroll down for Wayne Rooney: We prepared as well as we could for World Cup

Heading for victory: Mario Balotelli scores Italy's second goal in their 2-1 win over England on June 14

Heading for victory: Mario Balotelli scores Italy's second goal in their 2-1 win over England on June 14

Floored: Joe Hart (left) and Gary Cahill (centre) were helpless to stop Mario Balotelli scoring for Italy

Floored: Joe Hart (left) and Gary Cahill (centre) were helpless to stop Mario Balotelli scoring for Italy

Lethal Luis: Suarez scores Uruguay's second goal against England on Thursday evening

Lethal Luis: Suarez scores Uruguay's second goal against England on Thursday evening

At the double: Luis Suarez celebrates scoring his second goal during Uruguay's 2-1 win over England

At the double: Luis Suarez celebrates scoring his second goal during Uruguay's 2-1 win over England

 
 

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Out here in Rio I’m losing track of the number of fellow professionals from other places asking me: ‘What the hell is going on with your team’s defenders? It’s a joke, comical defending.’

Yes, it is. And there is no point in shying away from identifying several specific areas where England got it wrong or were simply not up to the job.

At the back, England were below par, incapable of handling clinical finishers. There are problems in midfield. There’s a lack of confidence all around the pitch. On-pitch leaders are lacking.

And Roy Hodgson fell between two stools in his approach to mixing youth and experience. He left behind the nous-heavy, tournament-hardened Michael Carrick and Ashley Cole, played his captain Steven Gerrard in a tough role, and gave youth its head only to an extent.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but there was a case for saying up front that this was going to be an event to gain experience, for the youngsters, across the whole XI. They’d learn how to prepare, play, rest, gain that high intensity experience.

 
Head boy: Raheem Sterling has been one of England's best players at the World Cup

Head boy: Raheem Sterling has been one of England's best players at the World Cup

Impact player: Ross Barkley has come on for England twice as substitute during the World Cup

Impact player: Ross Barkley has come on for England twice as substitute during the World Cup

Learning curve: Luke Shaw is yet to feature for England at the World Cup but has gained vital experience

Learning curve: Luke Shaw is yet to feature for England at the World Cup but has gained vital experience

When I went to a World Cup as a kid in 1998, I soaked it up like a sponge but there’s nothing like getting stuck in, full immersion.

Yet the real shame in our national game and the issue that has to be tackled urgently is that we just do not have enough good players.

With respect to the 23 in the squad, including some seasoned veterans who have done it all at club level and some extremely talented youngsters, our talent pool is puddle deep. Much as we can all talk about the promise of Raheem Sterling, Danny Welbeck, Daniel Sturridge, Ross Barkley, Luke Shaw, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, that just’s half a dozen people aged 24 or under. We shouldn’t be talking in single digits, we should expect many dozens.

Costa Rica have a population of five million. Croatia, Bosnia and Uruguay have even fewer. Is it not now blindingly obvious that something is very wrong when England, the home of football, the country that codified the game and took it to the world, a country with 53 million people, cannot field a decent team?

 
Young gun: Rio Ferdinand jokes around as England train during the 1998 World Cup in France

Young gun: Rio Ferdinand jokes around as England train during the 1998 World Cup in France

Talking tactics: Rio Ferdinand chats with then England manager as England prepare for the 1998 World Cup

Talking tactics: Rio Ferdinand chats with then England manager as England prepare for the 1998 World Cup

We lack facilities and coaches at all levels, and opportunities for top-level playing experience for the best young players. I was part of the FA Commission who considered these issues; one report has been published and another is on its way. Some suggestions for change are controversial but let’s be absolutely clear: there are very specific identifiable issues. I’ll give you just a tiny example. In the whole of England there are 639 3G all-weather pitches. Germany have more than 5,000.

An FA survey of clubs at all levels found 84 per cent of respondents saying facilities are poor. It hasn’t changed. This directly impacts on how many teams and at what age-groups kids can play.

We have too few coaches, and those we have are not as well qualified as they should be. Spain have 25,000 coaches with A, B and Pro Licences. Germany have 35,000. We have 6,000. Coaching is respected elsewhere, valued, literally. In Germany and the Netherlands a youth coach can earn £40,000 a year. It’s a profession. In England the equivalent pay is £16,000. That’s vocational, a hobby.

Anyone who cannot see the link between all these factors and an under-performing England team is kidding themselves.

 
Touch tight: Phil Jagielka closes down Luis Suarez during England's defeat to Uruguay on Thursday

Touch tight: Phil Jagielka closes down Luis Suarez during England's defeat to Uruguay on Thursday

Centre of attention: Gary Cahill rises above Luis Suarez to clear the ball for England

Centre of attention: Gary Cahill rises above Luis Suarez to clear the ball for England

England have conceded goals via poor defending. It’s unacceptable and in tournament terms it’s been the killer. Why can’t we concentrate? As soon as England equalised against Uruguay on Thursday, I was whooping off-air every bit as much as Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer alongside me. Then I said I’d take the draw immediately because I feared what might happen next.

We don’t have top-class centre halves. There is no intention here to demean the capabilities of Phil Jagielka and Gary Cahill, and I mean that sincerely. The worrying truth is, they are the best players available for England with enough game time under their belts.

Jagielka is an eight out 10 man every game he plays for Everton. Cahill is the most improved English defender in the Premier League in recent years, indeed a Champions League winner since he moved to Chelsea. But we’re talking about international football at the highest level. And are they good enough?

Left back: Ashley Cole was overlooked by Roy Hodgson for the World Cup despite all his experience

Left back: Ashley Cole was overlooked by Roy Hodgson for the World Cup despite all his experience

Missed a trick: Roy Hodgson should have included Michael Carrick (right) in his 23-man World Cup squad

Missed a trick: Roy Hodgson should have included Michael Carrick (right) in his 23-man World Cup squad

What you need at a World Cup is to utilise the very best defensive unit as a whole that you DO have, with the most experience, and England left that at home in the shape of Cole at left back and Carrick in the key defensive midfielder role.

I won’t even go into the situation with John Terry, because he was not available. But suffice to say that in an ideal world you would take and use all your best players at a World Cup. And for various reasons, England haven’t done that.

Hogdson and Gerrard were both tasked with impossible jobs and that has led to us ending up with unsatisfactory compromises.

Let’s look ahead now, everyone is saying, let’s look to Euro 2016, it’s not all doom and gloom.
I hope it’s not. But unless we get the big picture right, I fear we’ll be back here in a couple of years saying all this again.

Rio Ferdinand's Unity Cap

To celebrate the World Cup, I've added a special Unity Cap to my fashion range, incorporating all the flags of the participating nations and and with a share of the proceeds going to charity. You can find them via www.5mag.co and you can follow me on Twitter for a chance to win exclusive prizes @rioferdy5

 

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Why not have more English players playing for the top clubs? Used to work!

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Too many foreign players in the premiership.

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We hear a lot about players in the EPL but as it was pointed out on five live today the Belgians don't have so many players in ANY league. They are just motivated and have a lot of support from grass roots up. However the FA will keep repeating the mantra because it means they don't actually have to do anything. Forget English only coaches forget the EPL - quality coaches from wherever and the best players regardless of where they are playing - being proud enough to sing the national anthem would be a start. Remember we won the ashes when we dropped the "English only" coaching rule and bought in some of the hard nosed players who had been beating us for years. Clear out the FA, accept ten years of hurt and start again. Remember - we did better with a guy coaching who believed he was Jesus and he lived inside the earth.

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What does Rio know? Never won anything with England neither did he.

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I thought our wake up call was 4 years ago? Or was it 4 before that? Lets face it, our players are over=paid spoilt brats. They need to play for the under 21s and not get paid anything above the basic wage until they are 18. We dont deserve to be in the tournament and we arent, thank god i didnt waste any money going over there.

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It was obvious in the warm up games in Miami that playing four up front wouldn't work, the defence struggled to cope. No lessons were learned, and tried the same system against even better teams. Thats poor management, and possibly players not fit enough, or unwilling to help out the defence, especially down the flanks. If a team plays that system they must take the chances when they come, England just aren't good enough to play 4-2-4

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English kids think they have made it as soon as they get there 30.000 a week contract. they stop improving , simple

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Yes we didnt win, but i honestly thing our young players showed great skill against the italians and uruguay. We absolutely need more coaches and more pitches and more kids playing the game... but to say that our team flopped completely just because we lost.. is a bit much.

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it is funny he mention the germans , because they came to look in 2000 by the dutch and see how whe did it !!!!!

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We have ALWAYS been also rans. What a stupid story, Roy needs to go but that won't make us world beaters

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