It might be coming home: England Euro 2024 recap

It wasn’t pretty; it often isn’t, but it’s done now and in spectacular fashion. England have qualified for the EURO 2024 final for the second time in a row and will face a dynamic, high-flying Spain side in what could be a thrilling encounter. That, of course, depends on which version of Gareth Southgate’s England team shows up to the Olympiastadion on Sunday night.

We’ve seen two Englands throughout this tournament. The first: conservative, plain, laborious, with glimpses of good and all the ingredients to be truly great, but marred with an overwhelming sense of fear. Fear, perhaps, of just how good, or great, they actually can be. If the ingredients were all there, England’s early tournament showings indicated that Southgate had somehow managed to write a miserably banal recipe that made them painfully unappetizing.

And there should be no doubt about the ingredients. This is not a rag-tag group of hopeful dreamers. These are the crowned best players in the world. Phil Foden, the Premier League Player of the Season. Jude Bellingham, the La Liga Player of Season. Harry Kane, the Bundesliga top scorer. Cole Palmer, the Premier League Young Player of the Year.

Foden, along with Kyle Walker and John Stones, are reigning Premier League champions for the fourth consecutive season. Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka are coming off fantastic individual seasons as Premier League runners up. And that’s not even the full starting XI. There’s talent, skill and smarts aplenty in this squad and the results should, ideally, be much better than they have been.

Then there’s the second England we’ve seen. The side that showed up for the first half of the semi-final clash against the Netherlands. The side that actually played, believe it or not, to their potential.

Blasphemy, isn’t it?

This England, bolstered by a change in formation that allowed most of their best players to play in their best positions, looked comfortable in a way that we haven’t seen in any of their previous games.

Southgate’s new-old armchair setup with Foden playing through the middle, Bellingham dropping into the left channel and Saka providing width on the right worked a charm. The midfield, led by Rice, was more dynamic and composed thanks to the inclusion of Kobbie Mainoo and the defense looked, for the most part, structured and organized.

They were undoubtedly helped by a hapless Dutch team that, barring a wonderfully-struck long shot, looked more or less out of their depth.

Despite all of that, England needed an exceptional stoppage time winner from Ollie Watkins to put the game to bed. This version of England may have answered many of the questions that have come up in recent weeks, but ultimately, they proved yet again there is still merit in asking them in the first place.

But can one really complain?

For all the doubts, insults, put-downs and criticisms, Southgate has gotten his team to consecutive European Championship finals — a feat no other England manager can match. England, with the current resources at their disposal, can be much better than they have been.

They have everything they need to play the most exciting brand of football in the world. But there’s no caveat that it has to be pretty. At the end of the day, it isn’t the most attractive football, or even the best team that gets to lift the trophy. It’s the team that wins, one way or another. England have been far from the best team at EURO 2024. Their opponent, Spain, have been arguably the best from the very first match they played. Both are in the final all the same.

How England fare in their last match of the tournament, the very one in which they faltered in 2021, will depend on how brave they are willing to be. They say fortune favors the brave, and England have, in recent history at least, held something of an aversion to bravery.

The Netherlands game proved what everyone already believed, or so badly wanted to: it’s not a question of ability. No one knows which England will show up in Berlin on Sunday evening. In some ways, that makes it easier. They aren’t favorites, not by any measure, but they have what it takes. And in football, that’s all you need.