“I don’t believe in fairy tales, but I really believe in dreams and we have had big dreams. Even though we progressed with late goals and penalties, it doesn’t mean it’s our turn. We have to make sure that happens on our own”. The words were Gareth Southgate’s when a German journalist suggested that it could be destiny opening for England. Germany won the EC in England 28 years ago when Southgate was there.
It is clear that the yoke from 1966 hangs over the English national team. The World Cup gold, which is England’s only title and also won under somewhat dubious forms as far as the decisive goal is concerned. For nearly 60 years, that gold has haunted the country that considers itself the homeland of football, and today it is partly because, via the Premier League, you have the most popular and richest league in the world that attracts everyone.
Signaled a calm and a faith
England captain Southgate was joined by Harry Kane at the final press conference before a match during the European Championship in Germany. They sat in front of a huge press gathering in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium and signaled a calm and a belief. Although Kane mostly speaks in clichés, he dealt with everything from never winning anything with a team to heavy national team losses with England and how superior Spain was during the European Championship.
Even colder was Gareth Southgate. A few weeks ago, he was one of England’s most questioned men and saw his own supporters throw beer at him. He has seen ups and downs in his career, and he pulled a smile on the face of the penalty shootout against Germany in Euro 1996, when Southgate was the only one to miss. “I was probably the most popular Englishman in Berlin then”.
During his time as confederation captain, he has handled all crises and all questioning with dignity. Nor has he set off in any hubris in connection with the success in the WC 2018 and home European Championship. He pointed out at the press conference that there are so many other things in life that are more important than football and any results will not affect how he sees himself. Rather, it is his experience of having “experienced it all” as a player and leader that makes him feel zero fear before the final.
You can’t take that away from him
Gareth Southgate’s most important message to the players is not to be afraid. Then they have a greater chance of actually winning. Many are critical of how Southgate is as a coach if you think about tactics and match coaching, but you cannot take away from him the development he has brought with England’s men. After the WC gold in 1966, the best they have is a fourth place in 1990 in the WC and an EC bronze in 1968 and an EC semi-final in 1996 until 2016.
During Southgate’s eight years, they won the World Cup fourth in 2018, the European Championship second in 2021, went to the World Cup quarter-finals in 2022 and made it to a European Championship final in 2024. A large part of his work has been about the mental side, getting the players to cope of the pressure that comes with the body when you pull on the England shirt. Just the shootout job where they turned a clearly negative statistic into winning three of the last four rounds.
Is it all for nothing if you lose to Spain? No, it clearly isn’t. Of course, critics and detractors will point to the empty trophy cabinet but England have medaled in three of the last four championships and whether Southgate continues or someone else takes over, the sheer amount of talent suggests England can be in the running for medals in the future too . Which actually only happened in exceptional cases pre-Southgate.
Is there something in the fact that the two confederation captains in the final teams both worked with younger national teams and had worked in the confederation for a while? Southgate played for the U21 national team for four years until he was forced to step in when Sam Allardyce fell on his own a few months into the job. John Stones, Harry Kane, Jordan Pickford and some other players have followed Southgate from the U21 national team up to the A national team and then been given.
His national team made an impression during the EC
Spain’s Luis de la Fuente made 350 league appearances in both the first and second division before embarking on a coaching career that took him to a number of academies and head coaching jobs without much of an impact. Over ten years ago it became a job with younger national teams for the Spanish confederation and he led U19 to European Championship gold in 2015 and U21 to European Championship gold in 2019 and took home Olympic silver in Tokyo 2021 after a 2-1 loss against Brazil. Many of today’s players have worked with de la Fuente.
After Luis Enrique stepped down when the World Cup in Qatar ended in the round of 16, the federation turned to de la Fuente, who got off to a tough start with a loss to Scotland in the European Championship qualifiers a few months later. But better times came and a year ago he won the Nations League and the Spanish federation can hardly have regretted going on a real doldis. Although not many of the highest heights remain after the fallout from Luis Rubiale’s forced kiss by Jenni Hermoso after Spain’s World Cup gold medal less than a year ago, de la Fuente and his national team have made an impact at the European Championships.
The team has won all six games so far, although extra time was required against Germany. And Luis de la Fuente has developed the game, made it straighter and more direct. Found a good balance between defense and attack, young and old and possession versus attack. No matter how you twist and turn the numbers, Spain is superior in the EC. Goals, scoring chances, unbeaten streak, shootouts.
This is a European Championship gold for Spain to lose
Just that Spanish teams and national teams have been in 26 finals in the 2000s and the only losses are when club teams lost to other Spanish teams. You can point to the fact that they concede more shots than the other teams that went far and that is where England’s opportunity lies. Or that in case of a possible lead, you back home, as against Germany, and that gave the Germans an opportunity. The defense is strong, but how strong?
But in a match anything can happen, right? At least that’s what Harry Kane drew from all the clichés. It is of course correct, but no matter how I screw up the conditions, this is an EC gold for Spain to lose. Only a fool can seriously believe that England will take a historic European Championship gold tonight, but sometimes even fools are right.