181 days have passed since England last won a match. This six-game run is the longest the Three Lions have gone without a victory since 1993 and is their longest ever winless run heading into a major tournament. Even after Monday’s fightback against Germany, Gareth Southgate will face questions before the 2022 World Cup.
He isn’t the only manager of a big European national team currently under scrutiny amid a difficult run of results and performances. In fact, England are in good company as just one of several sides struggling for confidence and form ahead of this winter’s World Cup. France, Germany and Spain are all suffering their own problems.
Just one year after France lifted the Nations League trophy by winning every match, Didier Deschamps’ team finished third in a group that included Croatia, Denmark and Austria, winning just one match. Sunday’s 2-0 loss to Denmark underlined many of the issues being experienced by Les Blues.
France struggled for control of the match in Copenhagen and were prevented from creating opportunities in front of goal. Deschamps rotated his squad and made the excuse that the team he picked was usually young, but France should have been capable of much better. It was an unconvincing send-off for a side expected to be among the favourites in Qatar.
Germany’s flaws were exposed in the 3-3 draw against England at Wembley. While Hansi Flick’s team are capable of playing fluid, attractive football, they can be vulnerable at the back and lack a natural number nine to build around. Germany are at the start of a generational transition and are a work-in-progress – this is evident in some of their play.
Even accounting for this, there is pressure on Germany to perform well in Qatar. As defending champions, Germany crashed out of the 2018 World Cup at the group stage and will now be expected to make the last 16 this winter at the bare minimum. Flick and his players face a tough test to clear the first hurdle, though, drawn in a group with Spain and Japan.
Spain showed promise at Euro 2020, making the semi-finals where they lost in a penalty shootout to the eventual winners Italy and yet Luis Enrique still has a number of problems to resolve before the 2022 World Cup kicks off. Most notably, Spain lack cutting edge in front of goal – this was the thing that cost them at Euro 2020 and the deficiency remains.
Not only this, some of Enrique’s preferences in defence have been questioned. Sergio Ramos has been omitted from Spain’s most recent squads, but the 36-year-old hasn’t been replaced as his national team’s natural leader. Instead, Eric Garcia and Pau Torres are bringing the worst out of each other as Enrique’s preferred centre back pair.
Enrique added fuel to the fire that was lit around his team by the home defeat to Switzerland in the Nations League by playing down the quality of his team. “Portugal has better players than Spain,” he said, somewhat unwisely. “Starting players in the Premier League, La Liga and other championships. It exports a lot of players, it’s very interesting. I hope both teams triumph in the World Cup.”
Of course, it could be argued that the Nations League doesn’t always provide the greatest motivation for teams on the top rung of the international ladder. Nonetheless, the number of teams slipping is notable. England might not be in the best of shape right now, but their problems don’t look so bad in the wider context of their World Cup rivals.
