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Whatever the recriminations, whatever the fallout, whatever the result… you have to say there was no other side at Euro 2024 who deserved to win it anywhere near as much as Spain.
That should, really, take precedence over everything else. Heartbroken and tearful though they are, there is little shame in the fight England put up in the Euro 2024 final. Sometimes you just face a better team.
If there is one big regret for England here, it is that they started the second half woefully and gave themselves yet another Pyrenean climb to complete to win again. They scaled halfway up that mountain, only to slide back down it in the final few minutes of the game.
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But being that it’s England, the response cannot be ‘Spain are simply better’. Instead, it has to be fervent criticism of even the most spurious of England wrongs.
“Why did they wait until they went behind to change it?”, asked a sulking Rio Ferdinand shortly after the final whistle. “Because England looked comfortable against a very dangerous Spain side in the first half and then Spain scored within two minutes of the restart,” is the reply so obvious that you wonder how on earth such a stupid question could even have been asked in the first place.
I’ll give Ferdinand this, though: if his point has anything to it, it is that Kane should not have started this game. In attack, meanwhile, England were again left a bit short-changed by a clearly unfit Kane, who – as throughout the knockout stages – did not offer enough either on or off the ball.
Leaving out his captain would have been a bold shout on Southgate’s part, but this is not an observation made in hindsight: Kane had been miles off the pace in the previous games, too, while England’s best moments against Slovakia, Switzerland and the Netherlands all came after he had been replaced.
That aside, we imagine that this was, in fact, the exact game Southgate had planned for – and, for our money, a legitimate and suitable one. It was strongly reminiscent of Real Madrid’s Champions League quarter-final approach against Manchester City: stay solid, defend well, and try to hit them on the counter. The criticism of Southgate and England for being so conservative against the likes of Slovenia and Slovakia was valid; here, it felt like their only chance of avoiding a mauling.
Overwhelmingly, in the first 45 minutes, it worked. Jordan Pickford was a virtual passenger, Spain looked as toothless as they had all tournament in those first 45 minutes, and the best chance actually falling to Phil Foden just before the break.
Luke Shaw, in particular, did a fabulous job on Lamine Yamal, completely nullifying the 17-year-old throughout the first half.
If there was an area of concern in the England defence, however, it was on the other flank. We noted as early as the 14th minute that Kyle Walker and Bukayo Saka were allowing Marc Cucurella and especially Nico Williams far too much space on the Spain left. They managed to avoid serious scares throughout the first 45 minutes, but only just.
Their failure to learn from that was their undoing as a previously solid England started the second period in dreadful sorts. A genuinely sensational first-time outside-of-the-boot pass from Dani Carvajal finally sent Yamal clear of Shaw’s attentions for the first time, with the youngster coming inside and spotting Williams in all that space England had practically invited him to occupy. Pass, touch, finish, goal.
England looked shell-shocked for another ten minutes thereafter, and were lucky not to be punished further; but they shook it off even before welcoming Cole Palmer onto the pitch, with Saka showing real signs of danger once again as England hunted their equaliser.
The Chelsea man provided it – with a little help from a small deflection – by placing the ball into the bottom corner.
After Spain took their turn to look stunned for a few minutes, the pattern it had been in throughout that first half: Spain with all the territory and possession, but England looking well-placed to deal with it – albeit now having to rely on Pickford once or twice more than they might have liked.
That is until the moment they weren’t, with 86 minutes not quite on the clock, and again it came from Walker’s side. Cucurella was allowed to get the run on the Manchester City man before crossing for substitute Mikel Oyarzabal, who stayed just onside before beating Marc Guehi to the ball to convert.
Having gone within a penalty shootout of beating the best side at Euro 2020, England came within four minutes of holding, by some distance, the best side at Euro 2024. A late set piece scramble nearly rescued it again.
There is a point of view that says: that is not good enough; that England should have been the best side at Euro 2024; that Southgate has taken this team as far as he can and must now step aside to make room for a new approach.
That may very well be true. In fact, to be candid, I agree with it – or at least, the very last part.
But more than anything, I have enormous sympathy for Southgate, knowing the inquisitions and accusations that he will now face. To treat his undisputed improvement of this England team as if it were some kind of moral affront because he has twice fallen just inches away from glory is an absurd loss of perspective.
We don’t know what the future holds for Southgate, but he has already become a victim of his own success. He took over a team that finished bottom of their group at the 2014 World Cup and went out to Iceland at Euro 2016.
Southgate’s brief when he took over was ‘Please stop England from being embarrassing’ – but he changed those expectations so quickly that many have forgotten it was he who moved those goalposts in the first place.
The manager has made England very, very good; his record in his four tournaments in charge speaks to that fact. But at Euro 2024, Spain were genuinely excellent.
If this is the end for Southgate, we will only truly get the measure of just how good he was – or just how much he was holding the back – from what the next manager does with them.
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