Following a successful campaign in the World Cup 2007 that have seen them reach the quarter final of the tournament, England are now at a crossroad in terms of team development as they are trying to reach the elite level and win the Euro 2009 in Finland and the World Cup 2011 in Germany. Fantastic progress has been made under the stewardship of Manager Hope Powell. Especially in term of fitness and tactical awareness despite the fact that most girls are semi-professional or amateurs.

The big question is can England win a trophy when the team game is based on a defensive philosophy against the bigger team? During the World Cup, we have been seen playing attractive attacking football against the smaller team and reverted to defensive football against Germany and the USA. Granted it was successful against the World Cup as England managed a clean sheet and was the only side to do so in the whole tournament but they did not create a lot of chances. We saw the backlash of in the quarter final when USA scored first thanks to individual rather than collective mistakes: bad marking on a set piece, not clearing a ball and misjudgement. The problem is the team looked out of creative ideas leaving everything to the playmaker and her wingman in some pre-arranged scheme.

Recent training camps feedback suggest that the same restrictive scheme is in place with emphasis on defence on counter attacking style. History in men's football has proven that such a scheme can work e.g Euro 2004 but you would need a striker who can put away the only chance she will get in the game. The main striker used in that scheme did not produce the goods at the World Cup. Maybe it is time for a change and open the creative door and bring on ball possession and attacking football in the play against the big side and being scared of them?

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