When England started their Euro 2024 journey, they were the bookies favourites, however it quickly unravelled that England were not going to be playing that attacking free-flowing football that us pure football fans are spoilt with week-in week-out at club level. England started slow in the tournament with poor performances in the group stages, but they have grown into this tournament as it is got into the deeper stages.
I think the key moment of this tournament is that Jude Bellingham bicycle kick in the 95th minute against Slovakia. The moment of brilliance saved England and I think it was the wake-up call that the whole squad needed, they were going to have to earn the right to play at this tournament and it wasn’t going to be handed to them. Obviously, this game was the reason for England remaining alive in the tournament, but the mentality of the team and the nation appeared to change after this game, the team almost forgot about the group stages after this and took it upon themselves to control games better and play further up the pitch.
The country also shifted in their backing of the boys, we all realised that it doesn’t matter how we actually perform now as long as we win and get through. Sure, we all saw the raised performance against Switzerland in that first half and then the drop off in the second half but realistically it did not matter in the end, all the praise ended up on the penalties as it should have.
We have seen this before though, England get past the teams they should be beating in the early knockout stages and then crash out against a nation who are more evenly matched with them, with this semi-final against Netherlands having shades of the 2018 World Cup all over it. Also, with this so called ‘easier’ side of the draw, it is only seen as the easier side as other teams didn’t perform as well in the groups as England. We can only beat the teams put in front of us. France finished 2nd in their group because they couldn’t beat Poland so they went onto the other side of the group. Netherlands could have been our round of 16 opponents if Portugal hadn’t lost to Georgia, Italy could have been our quarter final opponents but Switzerland were actually the better team in reality, with many people actually believing the Swiss would knockout the Three Lions.
Then the semi-final, where there were nerves and excitement from the England supporters, almost scarred from previous knockout experiences, and that PTSD hit home in the 6th minute when Xavi Simons rifled one into the top corner. After that moment though England dominated the first half and should have been winning by half time, despite being fortunate with the penalty it was well deserved to at least be level. The one concern I had while watching the game was that while we had been good, we hadn’t scored while on top and didn’t give ourselves that cushion for a mistake, which was making for a tense end to the game. But like I said this game had ghosts of the 2018 World Cup semi-final around it, and it looked like we learnt from those ghosts, we knew in the second half that the Dutch would step up the pitch 10/15 yards because they were too deep. So, we had to change our gameplan to be less adventurous but other than Virgil Van Dijk’s half chance from a free kick we did look comfortable. As the half went on and the nerves grew the team didn’t seem to rock like in 2018, with Saka’s disallowed goal shocking the Netherland’s defence and giving them a scare. It was again though, a moment we could have looked back on if things hadn’t gone our way as it almost looked like we were tempting fate.
Then to Gareth Southgate’s credit he made the perfect substitutions, Foden had been excellent in the first half, his best England display by a long way but we weren’t finding him in the same half spaces in the second half and his impact on the game waned. Kane had looked better than in the rest of the tournament but again I believe he has to be carrying a knock as he doesn’t look fully fit. Either way, Palmer made sense to replace Foden like for like, with Watkins coming on to inject some energy up front, we knew he would work his socks off, pressing and running the channels, and we have seen his quality for Aston Villa this season, he’s just never really shown it for England to that level…but boy oh boy did he show it last night. The timing of the run, the weight of Palmer’s pass, the first touch just as he slows down and then speeds up to give himself half a yard from De Vrij…and then the finish. Right in the bottom corner, side-netting, as close to the post as you can get without touching; drilling his effort with such accuracy through the defenders’ legs, which is no stroke of luck and takes impeccable timing. It was another special moment for England and it could be one of those ones we cherish for years to come depending on this Sunday.
In reality Sunday will be an incredibly daunting prospect, England may well have been the favourites pre-tournament but from almost the first game week that narrative has switched to Spain. They’ve scored the most goals at the tournament, conceded the least and play the best football, but the best team doesn’t always win…just look at Manchester City in the FA cup final this year. England have world class talents in their side who are all capable of their own special moment of magic, we’ve seen it from Bellingham, from Saka, from Watkins, now who’s turn is it? Will Kane finally deliver this tournament, can Foden find that City form? Or will this task prove to be one step too far?