143 Goals in 22 Games; Can England Relive This Success?

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England fans across the country are tense ahead of the Germany game on Sunday due to England’s slow start to the tournament. Rooney hasn’t been on top form and it’s taken a bit of Dutch courage to give the squad the win they desperately sought against Slovenia on Wednesday.
With one of Europe’s best teams and an old foe to beat in order to get to the quarter-finals, maybe England should look to their own squad to get ahead- and no, I don’t mean the current squad.
100 years ago England’s national team toured South Africa, scoring an incredible 143 goals in 22 games and winning an impressive 7-1 against Western province on 26th May 1910 to start off their shot at the tournament.
They went on to win three matches against host nation South Africa, only conceding a total of 16 goals throughout their tour. They even managed to win their final game against Grahamstown 9-0, a score virtually unheard of in international football these days.
So what is the secret behind their success? It seems the roboticness of their play. Seeing football as more of a scientific formula than a series of passes led them to be heralded by the Rhodesia Herald on the 2nd July as the ‘finest explosion of scientific football ever witnessed’, a far-cry from recent headlines concerning the current England squad.
Short and quick passes seemed to be the key to their almighty success. However, it’s surprising the team even had the energy after travelling by boat for 17 days and playing two days after their arrival.
England’s chance of success against their infamous rivals now lies in the hands of players who have better quality boots, pitches and balls than those who championed before them. We can only wait in anticipation that the squad can win a small proportion of the late team’s success, which is all they need to give England fans what they’ve been waiting for – an English victory over Germany and a place in the quarter-finals.