‘Southgate inherited a mess but are now one game away from greatness’

England enter the iconic setting of Berlin’s Olympiastadion on Sunday night with a place in history for the prize that would accompany victory in the Euro 2024 final against Spain.

Gareth Southgate’s side will have to overcome the most impressive team on display in Germany to end a 58-year quest for men’s national team success, which dates back to the sunny day of 30 July 1966, when Sir Alf Ramsey’s team won the World Championship.

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 coaches, without ever escaping the story of disappointment.

Southgate and his players now have the opportunity to change the narrative forever and there has been a genuine sense of history in the making as English fans have flooded Berlin, with many heading to the vast bowl to the west of the city for over of 24 hours. hours before the start of the game.

England, under Southgate, are in their second successive European Championship final and are hoping to erase the bitter memories of their Euro 2020 penalty shootout defeat to Italy.

It was a desperate occasion on every level, not just because of the defeat but also because England’s hopes of emerging from the post-Covid era with a historic victory were overshadowed by events outside the game.

What could have been a joyous day was marred by mob violence, poor organisation, mass disorder at Wembley as well as London, and then by the dark shadow of racist abuse directed at Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka after they had failed. the penalty shootout.

Emotions contrast sharply as Euro 2024 draws to a close. There is a rediscovered sense of purpose and unity in Southgate’s squad. The fractures with fans, seen in the glasses of beer and in the abuse directed at the coach and players after the draw with Slovenia, have been healed.

However, no senior English football team has won a final on foreign soil. Has the time finally come?

England may be second favourites, but the last few days have seen the emergence of a sense of ‘name on the trophy’ destiny – that the moment may finally have arrived when a new success story can be told.

As Southgate said, relaxed and smiling in his final media appearance before the game: “We have a fabulous opportunity that we’ve been aiming for from the moment we set out. [the 2022 World Cup in] Qatar a little earlier than we would like.

“I don’t believe in fairy tales, but I believe in dreams and we have big dreams. If we’re not afraid of losing, we’ll have a better chance of winning and I want the players to feel that fearlessness.”

Those of us who have chronicled the years of disappointment have witnessed all sorts of reasons why England had their noses pressed against the window while other countries, most notably underdogs Greece at Euro 2004, enjoyed success that agonizingly eluded them. .

In terms of major tournaments, past history makes the Southgate years seem like a golden age, with a World Cup semi-final, the Euro 2020 final, the World Cup quarter-finals and now this final against Spain on your CV.

It’s all a far cry from what happened before under his predecessors, when great hopes were dashed as England specialized in failing.

England visibly wilted in the sweltering heat of Shizuoka on the south coast of Japan when they lost the World Cup quarter-final to Brazil in 2002 without the help of coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, who continued to select David Beckham when he clearly wasn’t fully fit – a pattern he would repeat with similar results.

The European Championship in Portugal two years later was a story of missed opportunities, bad luck and “Roomania”, as 18-year-old Everton phenom Wayne Rooney conquered the global stage.

Rooney’s blockbuster display in the opening defeat to France was followed by two-goal displays in victories against Switzerland and Croatia, turning the quiet street footballer – no interviews allowed – into a global story.

Hotel room phones were ringing in the middle of the night with agencies from all over the world demanding any precious information about the new young star. Having attended the same school as Rooney, De La Salle in the Croxteth district of Liverpool, became both a blessing and a curse for me.

Unfortunately, it all ended in more disappointment in the quarter-finals. Rooney’s broken foot early in the game against hosts Portugal, with England leading, changed the course of the tournament.

England had a team groaning under the weight of world-class talent, but the curse of penalties struck again, as did Eriksson’s inability to create a balanced midfield with Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Paul Scholes .

The tournament in Germany two years later was the World Cup for the WAGs, those of us who live in the beautiful spa town of Baden-Baden often unable to move around because of the throngs of photographers and public, making everything a unseemly circus, with then-wife Cheryl, Victoria Beckham and Colleen Rooney grabbing as many, if not more, headlines as England’s performances.

On another Eriksson Groundhog Day, England were eliminated on penalties by Portugal. A frustrated and unfit Rooney – who arrived at the team’s academy after being declared fit after another foot injury with the words “the big guy is back in town” – was sent off for stepping on defender Ricardo Carvalho and then sent off albeit with Cristiano Ronaldo’s infamous wink.

But if measured by relentless misery, the 2010 World Cup in South Africa could well be the winner.

Fabio Capello led a campaign that reflected his mien – grim, stern and discontented, with the Italian opting to base England in a gilded cage at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace on the outskirts of Rustenburg.

Isolated to the extreme, the monastic strategy within “Camp Capello” failed in every aspect, from Rio Ferdinand’s serious knee injury on the first day of training to the undignified sight of the England coach shouting at a photographer before a training session. training, in the mistaken belief that he was taking unauthorized photos.

The unhappiness and boredom erupted in an explosive press conference when John Terry appeared to challenge Capello’s authority, even demanding the inclusion of then Chelsea teammate Joe Cole, and Rooney admitting that the day consisted of “breakfast , training, lunch, bed, dinner”. , bed” before adding: “There are so many darts and pool games 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 had merit, even if making them public was described as a “big mistake” by Capello.

It ended with a 4-1 thrashing of Germany in the round of 16, with England so weak that even Frank Lampard’s unduly disallowed goal could not be used as a fig leaf 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 long mess he inherited from Capello, Roy Hodgson and then Sam Allardyce’s “blink and you’ll miss it” 67-day reign.

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 fled the press box at the final whistle still failed to arrive in time. to hear his resignation announcement.

In the final twist of the farce, we watched in disbelief as Hodgson had to be persuaded to appear for a final briefing, apparently believing that, as he was no longer England manager, he was not expected to explain the events surrounding a terribly poor performance.

Hodgson walked into a room at the English base at Chantilly with the words: “I don’t really know what I’m doing here.” The way 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 that Southgate was forced to piece together again, explaining why he deserves respect for what he achieved, regardless of Sunday’s result.

Southgate gave England credibility and respectability, rehabilitating it as a global force.

All that’s missing is victory, but now Southgate’s England have the chance to finally end the years of pain in a magnificent and iconic setting

Victory in Berlin would be Southgate’s crowning achievement, placing him alongside Sir Alf in England’s Hall of Fame, with the restoration of the prestige of playing for the Three Lions not far behind.

He led England to a final that many had hoped they would reach and win before the tournament began, but which followed a treacherous path, forcing them to overcome dangers and some self-inflicted injuries before reaching their intended destination.

And so, to Berlin, with Southgate and the England players on the doorstep of history and a game that can shape legacies and change lives forever.