From the moment they overcame two defeats to secure the most unlikely place in the Last 16, I was convinced that Denmark would go on to win UEFA EURO 2020 – football loves a narrative, after all, and what could be a finer tribute to both Christian Eriksen and the football gods than several thousand jubilant Roligans chanting their hero’s name at Wembley?
Kasper Hjulmand’s team grew into the tournament and deservedly reached the semi-finals, where they lost by the finest of margins. Only then did I allow myself to consider that the tournament’s protagonists were not the heroic Danes after all. Maybe, just maybe, destiny was to smile on England at last. The odds were certainly stacked in their favour.
But this was Italy’s story from the very first match. The new European champions started the competition in electric form and ended it triumphant. That they didn’t fall away after roaring out of the traps makes them one of the most convincing major tournament winners ever.
The fallout from the final has inevitably focused squarely on England and the English, on and off the pitch, yet in the great spiritual drama of football they were a mere player in somebody else’s tale. The Azzurri, those historic titans of the European game, were striding to the title from the off. What a job Roberto Mancini has done.
England were three nervous penalty kicks away from beating them. Gareth Southgate will spend the next few months cycling through tactics and decisions in his head but the bigger picture is that England reached the final of the European Championships and came within the width of a post of defying a genuinely exceptional Italian side.
England made the perfect start. Harry Kane, dropping deep as is the custom nowadays, sprayed a pass into the right-hand channel for right wing back Kieran Trippier. As centre back Kyle Walker overlapped, Trippier paused. His cross to the far post was tempting and his opposite number, Luke Shaw, accepted the invitation by volleying in off the post. The game wasn’t yet two minutes old. Wembley rocked.
The attacking opportunities that came England’s way in a surprisingly open first half were similar: there was space in behind Italy’s left back – Emerson was quite a downgrade from the injured Leonardo Spinazzola – and England were able to find it.
Crafting a real chance was a different matter but England were otherwise in charge of the first half-hour, winning every duel and claiming every second ball in a long spell of unexpected primacy. Time will forget that England were, just for 30 minutes, on fire in a major tournament final.
But the day was lost when the flame faded before a crucial second goal was found. Italy might not be a Catenaccio side in 2021 but they are made of tough stuff; their record run of unbeaten matches is testament to that.
Ultimately, they won the championship through experience, confidence and know-how. England were understandably naive by comparison. They needed to score again while they were in the ascendancy but they let the streetwise Azzurri gradually take control. Italy’s goal was scrappy – Leonardo Bonucci bundled the ball over the line after England failed to clear a 67th minute corner – but it had been in the post for a while.
Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini were imperious at the back for Italy, negating any real need for Player of the Tournament Gianluigi Donnarumma to show off his goalkeeping ability. Federico Chiesa tormented England and Italy grew potent while the home side started to look out of place.
History is written by the winners but taking this extraordinary Italian side to and through extra time was a noteworthy achievement for England. Alas, there was no repeat of the fizzing first period that saw them past Denmark in the semi-final. The match meandered towards a penalty shoot-out – an awful way to decide a tournament, but the only way.
England had won their previous two shoot-outs but Southgate and his staff over-thought this one. Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho were brought on as substitutes with the last few seconds ticking away, Rashford having to get rather too heavily involved at right back while Sancho never had a sniff. Both failed to score their penalties as England slumped to a devastating 3-2 loss from the spot.
England took an early lead but Rashford’s miss and Donnarumma’s save from Sancho set up the shoot-out to be won by Jorginho. The epically cool penalty he rolled in against Spain to win the semi-final was one of the tournament’s enduring images and there was no chance he was going to miss in the final – not with the result at his feet again.
I couldn’t watch. I still haven’t seen Jordan Pickford’s save. All I know is that England, in that moment, stood up from the canvas and were ready to punch again. But this was sudden death. England’s fifth taker, Bukayo Saka, had his kick saved. Italy were champions.
Penalty shoot-outs can be analysed and understood but they can never be known. They may be a test of skill and nerve, and thus not the proverbial lottery, but being critical of the players who don’t score isn’t of interest to me. Considering the levels of pressure involved, I simply have nothing to say.
Penalties can be practised but not replicated. The only way to become used to the moment is to be there and do it all over again, and again, and again. To play in big matches, to win them and to lose them. To shoot from twelve yards under the glare of millions.
The overwhelming on-pitch positive from this summer is that these dramatic challenges and high-stakes occasions could come around more often because this England, at last, is a truly promising one. There’s more to come. Jude Bellingham only played 55 minutes of the European Championships, during which he turned 18 years old. He won’t be on the bench much longer.
His international coach’s future is slightly more questionable in the aftermath. Southgate, shaken and shattered by a summer of hard work and intense scrutiny, has been less than conclusive about his own role and a possible new contract, though his desire to take England to another World Cup clearly hasn’t disintegrated.
Southgate has achieved plenty as England boss. Not content with being instrumental in developing such a capable generation of players and bringing them through as England youngsters, he’s taken them to a World Cup semi-final and a European Championships final in consecutive international summers.
There was a more fruitful approach available to Southgate in the final, even against a tremendous Italy team – we know it and he knows it, albeit in hindsight – but we can be sure that another manager wouldn’t have taken them as far as the final in the first place.
England’s real win under Southgate is the squad he’s generated off the pitch. These are impressive, socially conscious and vocal young men. They show a united front at all times, backing their manager to the hilt and supporting worthy causes with gusto.
Raheem Sterling and Tyrone Mings might be among the loudest voices when it comes to the issue of racism but they make their case with the squad in their corner.
England’s three penalty missers have inevitably been subjected to racist abuse. The squad’s response? Mings goes toe to toe with the hypocrite inhabiting the role of Home Secretary, and captain Harry Kane tells racist England supporters in the clearest terms possible that they’re not wanted.
A great many fans don’t deserve these players and make it practically impossible for the rest of us to take any pride in England. Fortunately, the squad and their manager give us more reason than ever.
Or maybe we’re just arrogant.
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Chris Nee
@SphinxFtbl