Cubs to lions

Steve Cooper | Salil Bera

The term ‘bottler’ is commonly used in English football to describe a player or team that shows promise but fails to deliver when it matters. Ironically, that is exactly what English national teams, for decades, have been: bottlers. And, that is what was expected of them at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in India. But the team showed little regard for history, and stormed its way to the country’s first U-17 title, coming from behind to beat Spain 5-2 in the final.

It capped a phenomenal year for English football. The Three Lions reached the final of the UEFA European U-17 Championship in May, before winning the FIFA U-20 World Cup in June and the UEFA European U-19 Championship in July. Despite these achievements, England came to India with the reputation of being bottlers. They had never gotten past the quarterfinals at any of the previous U-17 World Cups.

Yet, from the team’s first game against Chile, there was something evidently different. The players exuded confidence when in possession, defended their goal with excellent man marking and offside traps, distributed the ball with authority and precision, pressed for the ball when dispossessed and scored for fun. They operated in unison as a unit and could read each other’s movements—the lack of such organisation has long eluded the senior team.

The buzz during the group stage was mostly around attacker Jadon Sancho. The squad had a plethora of teenage prodigies from top clubs, and Sancho was the biggest. He lived up to his reputation and waltzed his way around defenders to notch up three goals and two assists in three games. In the group stage, England convincingly beat three tough opponents—Chile, Mexico and Iraq—who had come off impressive continental campaigns. For all of Sancho’s stardom, his departure after the group stage barely impacted the team’s performance.

The England U-17 coach Steve Cooper, who was quizzed over player selection, insisted that he had 21 players who were eligible to play any game in India. It seemed like a tall claim, but after winning his first two group games, he made seven changes to his team for the third game against Iraq. England won 4-0.

In the end, England scored 23 goals and conceded six in its seven matches, with an impressive goal difference of 17. The only game they failed to score was in the round of 16 clash against Japan. Though the game was goalless in regular time, both teams toiled and produced entertaining football. The game had to be decided in a penalty shootout—the only one of the tournament. Beating Japan in the shootout helped the team break the country’s infamous penalty jinx.

The team then beat a strong US side 4-1 in the quarterfinal. England tore apart a shaky US defence, with winger Phil Foden having another good day at the office. The Manchester City boy was England’s most enterprising player in every game and was rightly adjudged the player of the tournament. Such is Foden’s creativity, vision and attacking acumen, that City coach Pep Guardiola acknowledged it at a press conference in Manchester and joked: “In which position did they play Phil Foden, because when he comes back I’m going to put him in this position.”

Oozing class: Phil Foden had an outstanding tournament and won the Golden Ball award | Salil Bera

Foden revelled in his position out wide, as did Steven Sessegnon behind him and Callum Hudson-Odoi on the left. England carried out most of their attacks through the wings rather than through the middle. Excellent service was provided to striker Rhian Brewster, who finished as the competition’s top scorer with eight goals.

The 3-1 semifinal victory over Brazil underlined the team’s class. The Brazilians lacked the drive to fight and the English capitalised on it, despite 60,000 fans cheering for Brazil at the Salt Lake stadium, Kolkata. It was the final against Spain though that put to bed any doubt on the team’s all-round capabilities. From 0-2 down, the team fought back to script the biggest comeback of the event. They did not yield to pressure and continued to press for the ball. The goals then came raining down and Spain were outclassed.

For long, English teams have lacked an identity. The Spanish had their tiki-taka passing game, the Dutch had their ‘total football’ and the Brazilians had their attacking flair. But the English seemed to shift from one method to another. Realising this, the FA initiated the England DNA blueprint project in December 2014. The aim is to mould youngsters technically, tactically, physically, psychologically and socially into the ideal English footballer.

“The purpose of the DNA programme was that we want all English national teams to play in a certain way,” said coach Steve Cooper. It would become a refrain for him at every presser. “We like to have the ball as much as possible and press for it when we don’t have it. Everything that has happened this year in the age-group events is a result of the great work going on back home.”

The programme is undertaken at St. George’s Park, the 330-acre national football centre of England. The centre was opened in 2012 to foster player and coach development of all 28 England national teams—the different age group teams for men, women and those with disabilities. The England DNA project involves all the coaches at each level, who work together at the mega facility.

The programme has also facilitated a better understanding between the FA and the clubs. The clubs have seen the benefits of the project on young English players and are willing to let players train at the facility. Guardiola had said that he was impressed to see England finally developing their youngsters and compared it to how Spain developed their players in the 2000s into becoming world beaters at the senior level.

For Cooper, the long-term development of players was a common theme at every press conference. In his first interaction with the media, Cooper said: “Of course the ambition when we come to such events is to be as successful as we can and to bring our identity. Our main aim is to win senior world cups and we are always working towards that.”

It is something that the players understand. Captain Joel Latibeaudiere told me about the crowd cheering for Mexico, “As young players, we need to get used to this as we will face more opposition crowds in future,” he said. “The facility back home is helping us play together, to focus on fitness and to understand each others’s game. We want to win more.”

To prepare his players for the weather conditions in India, Cooper had spoken to English managers Ashley Westwood, Steve Coppell and Stephen Constantine who have coached teams in the subcontinent. He had also consulted staff from the England Cricket Board, aware of their involvement in cricket-crazy India. On arrival, Cooper was constantly in touch with Gareth Southgate, the head coach of the senior team.

When asked whether Cooper would adjust his team’s style of play based on the opponent’s approach, he was obstinate. “We will never change our style, we will never change how we play,” he said.

After the semifinal, Brazil coach Carlos Amadeu was full of praise for England’s dedication to youth development. “What they are doing there is incredible,” he said. “All their youth teams are very good and they are developing really great players. They have some of the best youth sides in the world.” Spain coach Santiago Denia, whose team had beaten the English in the final of the U-17 Euro, admitted before the final in India that England had vastly improved since the Euros and that there was no doubt English teams in the future will benefit from the current youth programme.

Former England international Sol Campbell, who is a member of FIFA’s technical study group, was effusive in his praise of the team’s campaign. “It is fantastic for England, how they are producing players for the future,” he said. “I think it is all about how they progress after this. They need to have more games in the first teams, that is important.”

The former Arsenal and Tottenham defender said: “St. George’s Park is helping England have a focus and we have not had that since Lake Shore, another sports centre,” he said. “Focus on fitness and tactics is pleasing to see, it has shown progress in their individual development.”

Perhaps the biggest obstacle the England team had to face was the Kolkata crowd. The team played six of its seven games there. Despite the entertaining football, the stadium, which had the largest capacity among the six venues, always backed the Three Lions’s opponents. But the final changed everything. The game began with the crowds cheering every Spanish attack. When England started ramming in the goals in the second half, the crowd eventually gave in and unanimously applauded the English for a change. Kolkata had accepted the fact that there was only one team that deserved to win.