CHENNAI: Stop the memes for a few minutes. Shove the negativity outside the door like a torn slipper. Halt the Gareth Southgate culture wars with all your might. They may have a lot of flaws in them but England have managed to advance to a second European Championship final within the space of three years.
Exactly three years ago, on a barmy, ominous night under the Wembley arch, Italy pricked and prodded their way to level the final before taking the title on penalties. On Sunday in Berlin, England have the opportunity to end 58 years of various hues of hurt, apathy, disillusionment and glorious failure.
Just in terms of what football means to the country — the country’s top-tier football competition, the Premier League, happens to be one of the biggest cultural exports of the 21st century — it would be hard to hold a grudge if they rubber-stamp the Southgate years with a title.
To state the bleeding obvious, they have been a hard sell over the last month or so in Germany. They may arguably have the best players in three of Europe’s most elite leagues but the manager’s conservative, safety first policy has cost the team and the players. At times, they have looked a rabble and have needed individual brilliance to bail the team out on multiple occasions.
If Jude Bellingham’s acrobatics rescued them against Slovakia in the pre-quarterfinals, it was Bukayo Saka’s lasered finish into the far corner from outside the box against Switzerland in the quarter-final. The side itself have played like a sum lesser than its parts but what they shown is an ability to grind out results.
Previous England men’s teams were also blessed with similar talent but some of those incarnations will not have found the ability to keep going. Over the last two weeks alone, they have scored equalising goals in the 95th minute, 80th minute and, now, a winning goal just as the time moved from 89:59 to 90:00.
The winner from Ollie Watkins, a goal he has scored a number of times for Aston Villa, came about because of two brave substitutions. England hooked both Harry Kane and Phil Foden, the former, their record men’s goal-scorer, and the latter, the reigning Premier League player of the year, for Watkins and Cole Palmer. Both those substitutes combined to condemn Netherlands, who had taken the lead via a rasping Xavi Simons drive from just outside the box very early in the match.
While the way England have approached the tournament in Germany isn’t of any surprise, the route they have taken is amusing. Southgate, who has now led England to two major finals and one semi-final across six years, the most any coach has done in the men’s team history (granted it’s a low bar), has come on record to speak about his ideal tournament team. Portugal 2016 or France 2018. Play very much with the handbreak on, control every controllable and depend on one moment of brilliance from the plethora of attacking talent.
Yet, for all that ethos, England have seldom been in control. They have had to throw in multiple attacking players in search of a hail mary and have pretty much been in vibes and prayers territory. Arguably, it’s given them a bigger lift just because of the memories they have created.
It’s why senior international tournament football need not make sense. Best laid plans can be laid to waste. At the Qatar World Cup in 2022, Argentina were on the brink before Lionel Messi’s long-range strike against Mexico. In 2016, Portugal drew all three group stage games before defying all logic to lift the grand prize. In 2008, a swashbuckling Netherlands team had won all three group-stage games with a rare swagger including a for the ages takedown of then world champions Italy 3-0. Yet, in the last eight against Russia, the Oranje were beaten 3-1 by Russia.
That is also a cautionary tale for Spain. They have been the best side at this Euro, they have the best attacking players, they have scored the most goals and their two-man midfield of Rodri and Fabian Ruiz are often impenetrable. If they win on Sunday, they will become only the second nation to win seven out of seven at a major before winning the title (Brazil in 2002).