The end of soccer: who was the golden generation of the England national team?
Perhaps the golden generation’s greatest honor was winning the 1966 World Cup for England. It was England’s first and last World Cup title. Bobby Charlton, Roger Hunt, Geoff Hurst, and Gordon Banks were England’s heroes.
Then, from the early 2000s, superstars emerged, players whose world-class performances made them international favorites. David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Ashley Cole, Michael Owen, and Michael Owen are just a few of the names. All of them are members of the England national team. It was an army of superstars.
One of the members of this group, Lampard, arguably England’s best midfielder, denied that his generation was the “Golden Generation” of the England national team. Everyone was calling them the golden generation, but Lampard dismissed it as nonsense. Why he did it.
“England’s golden generation? That’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous. None of us declared ourselves the golden generation. Of course, there were good players in the England national team. But we didn’t win anything,” he said.
Lampard then went on to name two players from a similar era, but from countries other than England. ”You have France with Zinedine Zidane, you have Italy with Andrea Pirlo,” Lampard said, dismissing England’s golden generation.
In other words, the true golden generation is Zidane’s France and Pirlo’s Italy. The golden generation achieved and made history with their national teams. It’s not like the England team of Lampard’s generation, which never won a major trophy. To be called a golden generation, you need achievements. Zidane and Pirlo have it, but Lampard doesn’t.
“It’s always a challenge to win when you’re playing for your country, when 바카라사이트 you’re playing for your national team,” Lampard emphasized.
Indeed, Pirlo played 116 matches for the Italian national team between 2002 and 2015. The Azzurri won the 2006 World Cup and finished runner-up at Euro 2012.
Zidane wore the France national team jersey from 1994 to 2006, making 108 appearances in total. The French national team won the 1998 World Cup, the 2006 World Cup runner-up, and Euro 2000.
This is in contrast to Lampard’s England, where he played 106 caps between 1999 and 2014. The true golden generation is not England, but France and Italy.