England play Spain this evening in the final of the 2024 UEFA European Football Championship. On Wednesday evening England’s last-minute goal eliminated the Netherlands and simultaneously disappointed many Spaniards who were hoping that the game would go to extra time: extending the match would have left the team they play tonight that little bit more tired.
People here don’t think that England will be able to survive 90 minutes’ open play against this Spanish team
Over the last few days there’s been much talk in Spain of how different each team’s route to the final has been. Spain arrive in Berlin trailing clouds of glory. They’ve put on some exhilarating displays and won all six matches, scoring 13 goals while conceding just three. England on the other hand have squeezed through by the narrowest of margins: they drew against Denmark and Slovenia, were rescued by Bellingham with half a minute to go against Slovakia, and scraped past Switzerland on penalties, before finally relying on a debatable penalty to keep them in the game against the Dutch. They’ve scored seven goals and conceded four while playing some very forgettable football.
Unsurprisingly then here in Spain the mood ahead of tonight’s game is upbeat. Spaniards reason that if both sides play the way they have done for most of the tournament, their team will lift the trophy. ‘Whoever wins on Sunday gets Gibraltar, okay?’ one of my Spanish brothers-in-law joked. ‘Whoever wins on Sunday gets Benidorm,’ I replied (it was the best I could come up with on the spur of the moment).
I refrained from mentioning the last time Spain played England in this tournament. In 1996 the teams played out a goalless snore-draw but England got the better of the penalties. Nobody in Spain of course is in the least concerned about what happened over a quarter of a century ago. But perhaps they should bear in mind that if tonight’s game does go to the penalty shoot-out, England stand a decent chance of repeating that 1996 victory. Last week against Switzerland they scored all five penalties in a display of clinical efficiency.
But people here don’t think that England will be able to survive 90 minutes’ open play against this Spanish team. They reckon that with Nico Williams bearing down on them from the left and the sensational Lamine Yamal, who only turned 17 yesterday, coming at them from the right, England’s defensive resources are about to be tested to destruction.
‘Well, actually we did improve quite a lot in the semis against the Netherlands. So watch out on Sunday,’ I ventured feebly after the next door neighbour had leaned over the fence to lecture me on the tedious football England have been playing for most of the tournament. ‘Hah!’ he said, ‘Cuatro-cero!’ (Four-nil) and he jerked his thumb towards his chest several times to indicate that it was his team that was going to be scoring four times. I couldn’t think of a comeback so I stood on my dignity and muttered: ‘Well, don’t be so sure. Perhaps football’s finally coming home.’
That was a mistake. I intended it as a sort of peace-offering, an ironic reference to English football’s habitual failure to win either friends or silverware, a sliver of self-deprecatory British humour. But many Spaniards are straightforwardly patriotic – some even take the Eurovision Song Contest seriously – and quite blind to the possibility of irony on such a serious matter. The neighbour took my words at face value, assumed I was boasting, and gave me a repeat spiel about how badly England have played, how lucky they are to have reached the final, and how much better Spain are, before rounding off by reminding me again that Spain will win four-nil.
Spain have certainly been playing more attractive football than England but that doesn’t mean they deserve to win tonight. The past doesn’t matter; it’s the team that plays the best football in tonight’s match that deserves to lift the trophy. I’m hoping that will be England but, having watched all the games of both teams, my guess is that it is more likely to be Spain and, at the risk of egg on my face in a few hours’ time, I predict that the score will be Spain 3, England 1. But mostly I’m just praying Spain don’t win four-nil.
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