Has Playing for England Lost Its Allure for Today’s Footballers?

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: March 18, 2013

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After appearing to at first accept Roy Hodgson’s international recall, Rio Ferdinand has decided to pull out of the England squad for their forthcoming World Cup qualifiers against San Marino and Montenegro because of what he calls his “intricate pre-planned programmes,” which he uses to keep fit for Manchester United.

Ferdinand has stressed that he has not retired from England duty, but his inability to adapt these fitness and medical programmes makes it very unlikely that he will play international football again and appears to be further evidence of the declining status of the England team.  

It was the Arsenal legend and French World Cup winner Patrick Vieira who recently expressed his belief that English players are losing interest in playing for the national team. 

“When I grew up in France, I dreamed of playing for my country. I don’t think young players are dreaming of doing that any more in England,” Vieira said. 

"I don’t understand why so many from the age of 16 to 21 pull out of national teams through injury. Maybe it’s the lack of FA ‘power’.” 

In recent years, several England players have ruled themselves out of selection, including Paul Scholes, Ben Foster, Paul Robinson, Luke Young and Jamie Carragher (though he reversed it to play at the 2010 World Cup finals), and last year, Michael Carrick told the FA that while he hadn’t officially retired, he didn’t want to go to Euro 2012 as merely a peripheral squad player. 

Has international football lost its allure for the modern-day player? I have asked Paul Scholes about the reasons for his retirement, and why he also rejected the then-England manager Fabio Capello’s request for him to go to the 2010 World Cup finals. 

“In the end, I didn’t want to go away from home for six weeks,” Scholes told ...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football

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