If England wants to win the World Cup, it should listen to these emperor penguins
As it turns out, the natural world has a lot of good advice for how to make a great football team. Country Life and the World Wide Fund for Nature break down the keys to success.
As England begins its World Cup campaign tonight, aiming to end 60 years of hurt, I am once again wondering what makes a great football team? It’s an interesting question. You naturally need players and individuals bursting with talent, but more than that it’s necessary to work together on the pitch, with resilience, trust and coordination. Easier said than done, especially for this England team in recent years.
One place that England could look to for inspiration might be wildlife itself, which takes great pride in, well, resilience, coordination and trust. What then could football learn from nature? It seemed like a good question and one that our friends at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) were more than happy to answer. They identified six lessons from the world’s most iconic species that Thomas Tuchel and The Lads could use to bring it home. Here’s hoping they’re reading this.
The high press: African Wild dogs
No team can succeed by sitting back and letting the other team just play, so a high press is important. African Wild dogs, although sadly endangered, are the benchmark for an intense press. Reaching speeds of 44mph, they work as a pack, chasing prey together, with each dog taking its turn at the front to keep the pressure on.
Defensive shape: Emperor penguins
A good attack will win you games, but a great defence will win you championships, so the saying goes. Staying organised and in a coherent shape is the essence of a strong back four, although for emperor penguins, that might resemble a ‘back thousand’. When temperatures in the Antarctic drop, they form a close huddle, conserving heat and shielding themselves from the wind. Each penguin takes a turn on the outside of the huddle, before rotating back inside.
Coordination: Chimpanzee
Teamwork isn’t just moving together as one, but also communicating clearly and effectively, anticipating things and telling your teammates what’s going to happen before it happens. In the wild, chimpanzees are some of the most intelligent animals around, signalling to other members of their group and using vocal calls during hunts to help catch prey.
Set pieces: Humpback whales
Arsenal basically used them to win this year’s Premier League, so we’ll just have to accept that the set piece is as important to winning football games as it has ever been, even if it rendered the whole sport basically unwatchable. In the wild, fine proponents of the set piece could be humpback whales, which work together to herd fish with spirals of bubbles before surging upward to feed. Known as ‘bubble-net feeding’, the technique shows what a well-drilled move can achieve. I also reckon a humpback whale could make a pretty handy goalkeeper.
Patient build up: Marine turtles
You can’t attack all the time in football, and with temperatures in the USA, Mexico and Canada forecasted to be 30º or higher, conserving energy is key. Step forward our marine turtles, who cross entire oceans through steady, purposeful movement. They are capable of high speed when necessary, but their movement is typically defined by endurance and efficiency.
The exception: Cheetahs
Every team needs a star. Who will it be for England: Bukayo Saka, Harry Kane, Morgan Rogers, Jude Bellingham or someone else? Sometimes, to win the big games, you need individual moments of brilliance. The cheetah is a solo hunter, the fastest land animal, and its unique agility and speed that gives it success.
