Conffeti Caps

It seems in recent years that the introduction of all these 'friendly' games in international football and the relaxation on the rules of representing your country has led to certain countries especially England, handing out caps like they were throwing confetti at a wedding in order to tie players to their nation.

Off the top of my head I can remember Hodgson handing Danny Welbeck a cap so he wouldnt play for Ghana, fortunately he has developed into part of the set up but then there was a cap for Jake Livermore in our last friendly against Italy as many players were rested. There is no doubt this young lad is talented but he is no where near a guaranteed starter for Spurs or the U-21's let alone ready to be handed an England cap, how must that make someone like Leon Osman or Kevin Nolan feel who have performed consistently well in the PL for a number of years?

Then to top it off there is the call ups for Carl Jenkinson and Wifred Zaha. Yes both are talented but Jenkinson is at best 5th or 6th choice in line the play right back for England. In front of him are Johnson, Walker and Richards. Smalling, Jones and Jagielka can also play there but because England are scared Finland might get him we are going to cap him? Ludicrous!! Zaha is a major talent, but with no PL experience and only 5 caps at U-21 level. He is a quick right or left sided winger of which we seem to have an abundance at the minute with the likes of Lennon, Sterling, A.Johnson to name a few but again he is being rushed through as the Ivory Coast are sniffing around.

For me this is why England has lost its edge as it is all to easy to get a cap these days. It is no longer seen as the pinnacle of your career but a stepping stone to a better contract with your club.

Rant over!!

P.S. Here are some other one cap wonders in recent years off the top of my head.......Jay Bothroyd, Kevin Davies, Gavin Mcann, Lee Bowyer, Michael Ball, Joey Barton, Michael Ricketts, Francis Jeffers, Anthony Gardner and David Nugent.

I think Sven has a few to answer for in that list!!

 

Not a rant but a very good point. It often works the other way round of course and England in particular really suffer from this kind of thing with the home nations and many emigrant countries standing by to snap up any half decent prospect. Fifa should do away with the ludicrous grandparents rule and only allow players to only play for their country of birth or where they have been naturalized.

 

Young players are expected to make tough decisions very early in their club and international careers when men with 10 years more life experience wouldnt like to make those decisions. So for me there has to be a much more definitive set of guidelines on playing international football to make these tough decisions clearer and easier.

I also think England need to bring in a development squad for players who are not quite at senior squad level and to old for the U-21's. Calling them the England 'B' team is wrong, in Rugby they are the Saxons, in cricket they are the Lions why not use something similar. This team could play 'UNCAPPED' games against so called lower ranking nations in friendlies and gain necessary experience of the international set up before possibly moving up to the senior side.