- Author, Phil McNulty
- Role, Chief football writer in Berlin
England enter the iconic surroundings of Berlin’s Olympiastadion on Sunday night with a place in history the prize that would accompany victory in the Euro 2024 final against Spain.
Gareth Southgate’s side must overcome the most impressive side on show in Germany to end a 58-year search for success by the men’s team stretching back to the sunlit day on 30 July 1966 when Sir Alf Ramsey’s side won the World Cup.
A total of 457 players have represented England since that day – with 436 debutants – and the country has qualified for 20 major tournaments under 11 managers without ever escaping the storyline of disappointment.
Southgate and his players now have the chance to change the narrative forever and there has been a genuine sense of history in the making as England supporters flooded into Berlin, with many making their way to the vast bowl to the west of the city more than 24 hours before kick-off.
England, under Southgate, are in a second successive European Championship final and hoping to erase the bitter memories of their defeat on penalties by Italy at Euro 2020.
That was a desperate occasion on every level, not simply because of the loss, but also because England’s hope of emerging from the post-Covid era with a landmark victory was overshadowed by events away from the game.
What could have been a joyous day was scarred by crowd violence, poor organisation, mass disorder at Wembley as well as in London, then the bleak shadow of racist abuse aimed in the direction of Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka after they missed in the penalty shootout.
Emotions are in sharp contrast as Euro 2024 draws to its conclusion. There is a rediscovered sense of purpose and unity about Southgate’s squad. The fractures with fans, seen in the beer cups and abuse aimed at the manager and players after the draw with Slovenia, have healed.
Yet no senior England football team has won a final on foreign soil. Is this finally the time?
England may be second favourites but the past few days have seen the emergence of a “name on the trophy” feeling of destiny, that the time may have finally arrived when a fresh story of success can be told.
As Southgate, relaxed and smiling on his final media appearance before the match, said: “We have a fabulous opportunity that we set out to achieve from the moment we left [the 2022 World Cup in] Qatar a bit earlier than we would have liked to.
“I’m not a believer in fairytales but I believe in dreams and we have big dreams. If we are not afraid of losing it gives us a better chance to win and I want the players to feel that fearlessness.”
Those of us chronicling the years of disappointment have witnessed all manner of reasons why England have had their noses pressed up against the window while other countries, most notably huge underdogs Greece at Euro 2004, have enjoyed success that has agonisingly eluded them.
In major tournament terms, past history makes the Southgate years seem like a golden era, with a World Cup semi-final, the Euro 2020 final, a World Cup quarter-final, and now this final against Spain on his CV.
It is all a far cry from what went before under his predecessors, when high hopes were dashed as England specialised in falling short.
England visibly wilted in the stifling heat of Shizuoka on the south coast of Japan when losing the World Cup quarter-final to Brazil in 2002, not helped by manager Sven-Goran Eriksson continuing to select David Beckham when clearly not fully fit – a pattern he would repeat with similar results.
The Euros in Portugal two years later was a tale of missed opportunity, ill-luck and “Roomania”, as the 18-year-old Everton phenomenon Wayne Rooney took the global stage by storm.
Rooney’s blockbuster display in the opening defeat to France was followed by two-goal performances in wins against Switzerland and Croatia transforming the silent street footballer – no interviews allowed – into a worldwide story.
Hotel bedroom phones would ring in the middle of night with outlets from around the world demanding any piece of precious information about the new young superstar. Having attended the same school as Rooney, De La Salle in Liverpool’s Croxteth district, became both a blessing and a curse for me.
Sadly it ended in more quarter-final disappointment, Rooney’s broken foot early in the game against hosts Portugal with England leading changed the course of their tournament.
England had a team groaning under the weight of world-class talent but the penalty curse struck again, as did Eriksson’s inability to fashion a balanced midfield out of Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Paul Scholes.
The tournament in Germany two years later was the World Cup of WAGs, those of us based in the beautiful spa town of Baden-Baden often unable to move around for crowds of photographers and the public making it all an unseemly circus, with Ashley Cole’s then wife Cheryl, Victoria Beckham and Colleen Rooney garnering as many, if not more, headlines as England’s performances.
In another Eriksson Groundhog Day, England went out on penalties to Portugal. A frustrated and not match-fit Rooney – who arrived at the team base having been declared fit after another foot injury with the words “the big man is back in town” – was sent off for stamping on defender Ricardo Carvalho then sent on his way with Cristiano Ronaldo’s infamous wink.
But if measured by unrelenting misery, the 2010 World Cup in South Africa may well be the winner.
Fabio Capello lead a campaign that mirrored his countenance – grim, austere and discontented, the Italian choosing to base England in a gilded cage at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace outside Rustenburg.
Isolated in the extreme, the monastic strategy inside “Camp Capello” failed in every respect, from Rio Ferdinand’s serious knee injury on the first day of training to the undignified sight of England’s manager bellowing at a photographer before a training session in the mistaken belief he was taking unauthorised shots.
The unhappiness and boredom blew up in an explosive press conference when John Terry appeared to challenge Capello’s authority, even demanding the inclusion of then Chelsea team-mate Joe Cole, and Rooney admitting the day consisted of “breakfast, training, lunch, bed, dinner, bed” before adding: “There are only so many games of darts and snooker you can play.”
Terry’s complaints about the camp were painted as an attempted coup by someone who was no longer captain but whose words carried merit, even if making them public was described as a “big mistake” by Capello.
It ended with a 4-1 thrashing against Germany in the last 16, England so poor that even Frank Lampard’s wrongly disallowed goal could not be used as a figleaf to disguise a truly rotten tournament.
Whenever the story of Southgate’s time in charge is told, it must be within the context of the extended shambles he inherited from Capello, Roy Hodgson and then the “blink and you’ll miss it” 67-day reign of Sam Allardyce.
Hodgson’s time in charge ended minutes after the humiliation of a last-16 exit to Iceland at Euro 2016 in France – an embarrassment so complete that some members of the media who ran from the press box at the final whistle still did not arrive in time to hear his resignation announcement.
In the final twist of farce, we watched in disbelief as Hodgson had to be persuaded to appear for a final media briefing, seemingly believing that as he was no longer England manager he was not expected to explain the events surrounding a mind-numbingly bad performance.
Hodgson entered a room at England’s base at Chantilly with the words: “I don’t really know what I’m doing here.” After the manner in which England’s campaign was conducted, it was both comedy gold and the perfect epitaph for those few weeks in France.
This was, after the brief Allardyce era, the mess Southgate was required to piece together again, explaining why he deserves respect for what he has accomplished, irrespective of Sunday’s outcome.
Southgate has given England credibility and respectability, rehabilitating them as a global force.
Only the win is missing, but now Southgate’s England have the chance to finally end the years of hurt in magnificent, iconic surroundings
Victory in Berlin would be Southgate’s crowning achievement, putting him alongside Sir Alf Ramsey in England’s managerial Hall Of Fame, his restoration of the prestige of playing for England not far behind.
He has led England to a final many expected them to reach, and win, before the start of the tournament but which has taken a treacherous route forcing them to overcome hazards and some self-inflicted wounds before reaching their intended destination.
And so to Berlin’s Olympiastadion, with Southgate and England’s players at the gates of history and a game that could shape legacies and change lives forever.