Explaining England's football shortcomings

With all the speculation over why England failed to qualify for the Euro 2008 finals, this article in this week's Economist provides an interesting perspective. The article argues that it's really a skills gap, not the number of foreign players playing in England's Premiership. The article cites France as an example. After failing to qualify for the World Cup in 1990 and 1994, the French won it all in 1998, in part due to an intensive focus on improving the skills of their younger players.