England lost the 1996 European football championship semi-final against Germany after Gareth Southgate misfired his shot in the penalty shootout. Wembley Stadium was the venue and England were the hosts that year. Twenty-eight years later, the venue has shifted to Germany. England are in the final under Southgate’s managership.
They were in the final of the previous edition played in England as well and lost to Italy in the tie-breaker after having led for a substantial part of the game. This time, the script has changed. England have won three knockout games after having conceded the lead. It’s a rare, if not unprecedented, achievement. Teams do come back, but not in the pre-quarters, quarters and semi-finals of a major tournament. It will be hard to find a parallel to what England have done.
“I felt we couldn’t quite get ourselves in the right place. In the end, what was impressive was the players ground it out and found ways to win,” Southgate had said before the semi-final. He added: “I felt that shifted once we got to the knockout stage, definitely in the quarter-final — we saw a better version of us with the ball. We’re freer…. You’re now into that moment of the tournament where it’s about what’s possible and what’s achievable rather than what might go wrong.”
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And the England manager has shown amazing astuteness in helping his team achieve. In the Round-of-16 match against Slovakia, he didn’t substitute the off-colour Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham and the latter netted a miraculous equaliser in the dying moments. In the semi-final against the Netherlands, he replaced Kane and Phil Foden with Ollie Watkins and Cole Palmer in the 81st minute. Watkins hit the winner after being set up by Palmer in the 90th minute. Talk about a coach’s instinct and gut feeling!
A defender in his playing days, Southgate has often shown an urge to crowd the back-line. In the last few big tournaments, his team has at times played with a five-man defence. At the same time, the manager has also used his attacking options with telling effect. He has given them freedom and England have gained from it. Semi-final and quarter-final in two World Cups and two successive Euro finals is consistency. Southgate has trusted his players, took harsh decisions and the team has benefited from his judgment of situations and resources.
In Euro 2024, England have improved steadily after an ordinary start. It’s true that they were on the relatively easier side of the draw after qualifying for the knockouts, but the situations they faced and overcame were far from easy. Winning three knockout games after going down by a goal is an enormous source of confidence and that will be England’s biggest strength in the final against a supremely impressive Spanish side.