England face Bulgaria with hope for the future

A youthful England side face Bulgaria in Sofia tonight, hoping to get one step closer to qualifying for Euro 2012, to be held in Poland and Ukraine next summer.

Victory for the Three Lions would ensure they stay top of Group G, ahead of Montenegro, who play Wales in Cardiff this evening.

The Welsh could do England a favour by halting Montenegro’s surprise challenge for Euro 2012 qualification, before they play Fabio Capello’s men at Wembley on Tuesday. England will hope to have cemented their commanding position in Group G by the time they travel to Montenegro for their final group game in October.

As summer recedes and we welcome autumn, the fresh broom normally associated with spring has been in full effect. It’s England in reverse as sweeping changes have been made to the squad at the end of this qualifying campaign, rather than the beginning.

Much of the focus in the build-up to tonight’s game has surrounded the inclusion of Manchester United trio Phil Jones, Tom Cleverley and Chris Smalling. Striker Danny Welbeck was also named in the original squad, however an injury sustained in the 8-2 thrashing of Arsenal necessitated his withdrawal.

The parallels between the make-up of the latest England squad and Manchester United’s regeneration this season are self-evident and have been well documented.

Following defeat to Pep Guardiola’s peerless Barcelona side in the UEFA Champions League final in May, Sir Alex Ferguson was quick to acknowledge the gulf in class between the cup winners and his defeated challengers. Describing the 3-1 loss as the “worst hiding” he’d endured in his 25 years as manager of Manchester United, a squad overhaul was quickly enacted.

The sea change at Old Trafford was an affirmation that United, and indeed English football in general, needed to do things differently. The game’s progression left England behind in South Africa at last summer’s World Cup. The national team’s requirement to introduce players capable of adapting to the modern game, in order to compete successfully at tournaments, has also been recognised by former Manchester United and England right-back, Gary Neville.

He told BBC Radio Five Live’s Sportsweek programme: “I see a different type of player coming through – a more intelligent type of player.”

“The likes of Wilshere and Cleverley will give England a better chance of winning the World Cup.

“You cannot win [major tournaments] without keeping possession of the ball – and I see players now who can keep the ball more.”

England’s new crop of players may be able to perform their own version of the ‘Barcelona Way’, but qualification for a major championship is the easy bit, right? We’ll conveniently forget about the ill-fated campaigns to reach World Cup ’94 and Euro 2008 at this point.

Surely though, the acid test, as it always has been and shall remain, is whether this newest incarnation of England’s national football team can translate qualifying wins into tournament victories on the big stage.

In this respect, Germany’s talented youngsters are often touted as the yardstick for others to follow. They earned their stripes during their European Under-21 Championship triumph in 2009, outclassing Stuart Pearce’s Young Lions in the final of that competition, a 4-0 thrashing confirming their domination.

Germany then stepped it up another notch at last year’s World Cup Finals, their 4-1 drubbing of England’s senior team on their way to the semi-finals, a defeat that will affect the English psyche for some time, at least until some form of retribution is achieved.

All of the above leads neatly onto the next point and the roots of this Teutonic re-emergence. Germany’s success wasn’t cultivated overnight. The German FA had been working to cure the malaise affecting their national team since their 3-0 quarter-final defeat to Croatia at France ’98.

England’s 5-1 thrashing of Rudi Voeller’s team in Munich ten years ago, a game fondly remembered this week, was arguably the lowest point on the road to recovery.

Then, like now, a fresh England side were being touted for great things and the haunting memory of their great rivals’ 1-0 win in the final game played at the old Wembley was about to be laid to rest.

It has taken the best part of a decade to move on the majority of that squad who subsequently failed, for whatever reason, to deliver measured success.

Most journalists are loathe to describe the latest squad as the ‘Golden Generation 2.0’ but there is hope that past mistakes can be learnt from and England can begin to seriously challenge at international football’s top table. Defeating Bulgaria this evening would be a small step towards what will hopefully be a bright future.