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Former Liverpool striker Emile Heskey has explained why England's golden generation was overrated. According to the 44-year-old, the Three Lions fell short when compared to other quality-stacked national teams at the time.
England's golden generation featured world-class talents such as Michael Owen, David Beckham, Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, Paul Scholes, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Ashley Cole, and more. However, they were perceived as underachievers, as they couldn't get the team into the semifinals of a major competition.
Reflecting on the subject, Heskey said that even though that team could've beaten anyone on their day, they weren't too special. The former Three Lions forward reckoned that there were multiple countries that had better squads than England at the time.
"People talk about golden generations, but how much of a golden generation was it really? When you look at the French players in my age bracket, that’s a true golden generation," he said, speaking to gambling.com via Daily Star.
He added:
"Nicolas Anelka, David Trezeguet, Thierry Henry, William Gallas, Mikaël Silvestre, Willy Sagnol – there’s loads. And that’s just my age group by the way, when you throw the slightly older players from that group you have Zinedine Zidane, Patrick Vieira, Lillian Thuram, Bixente Lizarazu… I could go on.
Heskey continued:
"With all that in mind, how much of a golden generation did we really have? Don’t get me wrong; on our day we could have beaten anyone, but you have to compare our so-called golden generation to others," he said.
Heskey went on to compare England's golden generation with the Brazilian side that knocked them out of the 2002 FIFA World Cup, reflecting the gulf in quality between the two sides.
He said:
"We got knocked out in the quarters by a Brazil team that had Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho – three eventual Ballon d’Or winners. They had Kaka on the bench too, another Ballon d’Or winner."
"We had Michael Owen up front, our own Ballon d’Or winner, but that was the extraordinary squad we were up against, a true golden generation," the former Liverpool and Aston Villa forward concluded.
England getting ready for 2022 FIFA World Cup
England have announced their 26-man squad to participate in the FIFA World Cup in Qatar this year. The squad is resplendent with amazing talents such as Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw, Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham, Kyle Walker, and James Maddison, to mention a few.
The Three Lions have been drawn in Group B alongside USA, Wales, and Iran. England will open their campaign against Iran at the Khalifa International Stadium on November 21.
With two victories and one draw in their last three games, it wouldn't be far-fetched to say that England look ready for the World Cup. It remains to be seen how far they will go in the competition.
