England’s fate and a key advantage over Spain can end 58 years of hurt
The Three Lions eye redemption in Berlin after defeat to Italy at Euro 2020 and Gareth Southgate concedes he wants to win so bad ‘it hurts’
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Gareth Southgate allowed himself a mere three hours’ sleep after the semi-final win over Netherlands, before delving into analysis of Spain. That’s the scale of the challenge for the Euro 2024 final. That’s the scale of the game, as the England manager has already stated – twice – that his team need to be “perfect” in order to win. There was still no weariness about such exertions, however. There are only “healthy nerves”.
The smiles around the England camp emphasise that, in an atmosphere that is completely different to what it was like even two weeks ago. At that point, there was a risk of a bored disgruntlement taking hold, that could have made this campaign like 2010 or even 2000. It might instead be like 1966, with a chance for a grand redemption of Euro 2020.
While most of the players are just looking ahead to Sunday, some can’t help discussing that defeat to Italy at Wembley. Declan Rice has admitted it will “haunt” him “forever”. That’s only if this is another defeat, and Sunday sees England become the first ever team to lose consecutive European Championship finals, while Spain become the first to win this trophy four times.
Southgate’s squad obviously aren’t even considering that. There is only the extreme belief that they can finally experience the glory that ends so much pain, a conviction that comes from the way they have got to Berlin’s Olympiastadion. That is through a series of victories that went the distance, that suggests a team that is fated to go all the way.
The only problem with indulging that mindset is that Spain have even greater cause to think like that. They have been the team of the tournament, reminiscent of France 1984, Netherlands 1988 and their own great sides of 2008 and 2012. The Euros, ominously, doesn’t have too many equivalents of glorious failures like Netherlands 1974.
What’s more, this Spain have so far surpassed all of those great sides. No previous teams have won six out of six at a Euros, like they have. No previous teams have faced a run that includes giants such as Croatia, Italy, Germany and France, either. Such “giants” were more than names, too. And Spain didn’t just beat them, either. They beat them convincingly.
It is why Spain’s preparation for this final has been different to England. There is of course a healthy respect for Southgate’s squad, and even an acknowledgement that England are individually superior. It’s just that Spain have already passed similar challenges. Their coaching staff feel this is just another big game to be taken on, rather than this immense challenge.
Spain’s own analysts will have realised something else. Whatever about the pure numbers of their results, most of the football, tactical and technical logic indicates that Luis de la Fuente’s team will win. It’s just they will also be aware that football - and especially finals - doesn’t really work like that.
You only have to look at one of the recent major finals that many of these players appeared in. Manchester United won the FA Cup final, despite the widespread expectation that Manchester City’s ideology would beat their individualism. There are parallels in this match.
England are able to rely on more than individualism, though, even if there has been the same kind of football “magical realism” about their run. Southgate’s side have conjured exhilarating late wins from poor performances.
That points to one of many sporting conflicts that enrich this final, to go with the differing feelings as to why both squads can believe their name is on the trophy. There’s even the contrasting play.
With the way the two teams are set up, and Rodri in the centre of the pitch, it’s impossible not to think that Spain will dominate possession and consequently exhaust England’s starting line-up. Rice, conspicuously, looked jaded at the end of the semi-final. That doesn’t necessarily mean it will exhaust England’s whole team, though.
It is another competing force in this game, this time for Spain’s possession. That is English depth. As Southgate has stressed, the story of England’s campaign is that of the collective in a wider sense. So many different players have come to have an effect. The final might even end up the best team against the best bench.
That’s why the notional big debate coming into the final isn’t really a big debate at all. Of course Southgate is going to start Harry Kane. He’s also likely to change him late on, as has happened in half of England’s games up to now. That can allow the introduction of pace in the latter stages, which can pose a sudden new challenge for Spain.
Southgate feels this can be crucial, which is why it has been such a focus of England’s campaign.
“We’ve known the physical demands of a tournament,” the manager said. “We’ve always had in our mind this time the importance of the bench.”
That is the benefit of experience and points to England’s most significant advantage over Spain. This management team and most of the key players have been in a final before. It’s new for this Spanish side, and that can bring nerves. There was a slight hint of that towards the end of the semi-final against France.
At the same time, no one would accuse the men’s Euros’ youngest ever player of any doubt. The English squad were blown away watching Lamine Yamal, and there is the possibility that he and Nico Williams could shred Southgate’s flanks.
Jude Bellingham, so erratic in this tournament, knows he has a new rival in La Liga. This would be a good time for a statement. Spain’s class still offers a considerable caveat to the idea that English subs can prove decisive. Southgate getting the starting line-up wrong hasn’t really mattered so far because England have had enough talent to overcome relatively moderate opposition. That may not be possible against Spain. It is why the biggest decision might be over finally starting Luke Shaw, to at last give the balance that the manager has long desired in the game that matters most.
These are all the little details that will decide far bigger conflicts. The grandest is maybe over the legacy of the tournament, which takes the theme of the semi-finals even further. That is whether it will be won by Spain’s expressive ideology or Southgate’s version of France’s more pragmatic “tournament ball”. Such a victory would only deepen the manager’s legacy, in what could be his last game. It would also be England’s first Euros, while inverting what happened at Euro 96 by winning the competition in Germany.
Nobody needs to be told about 58 years of hurt, but there’s more to it than that. Of all the countries to have won a major international trophy in history, England’s drought is now the fifth-longest of all time. The others are Ethiopia, Bolivia, Israel and USSR. Because of all that it feels like it means more to England, as Southgate talks of wanting to win so badly that “it hurts”. Spain have the potential to make that all the more painful at the final step, because they have so far had more to their team.
So far. This is a final, where all that matters is the end result. Southgate, after this campaign, knows that better than anyone.
England vs Spain kicks off at 8pm, coverage is on BBC One and ITV1
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