Spain-England was decided in the second half, with Oyarzabal’s strike giving the Red Furies their fourth European Championship

Football is a simple game: 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end England loses. Wasn’t it like that? You’d think so, given that the Three Lions will see the others celebrate this time too. Regardless of the historical cycles, however, it couldn’t have ended otherwise: in a Euro 2024 that wasn’t so full of beautiful teams to watch, Spain showed impressive play right from the first match, the 3-0 against Croatia. As the matches went by, we saw that there were few teams capable of competing with the Red Furies in terms of play, perhaps only Germany. And in fact that controversial quarter-final in Stuttgart was perhaps the tournament’s anticipated final. Spain-England, the real final, was a game that was in the balance until 5 minutes from the end only because Spain had missed so many scoring opportunities both at 1-0 and 1-1 before finding the title goal, giving hope to an England team that was full of heart and that for another time had managed to equalize a disadvantage, but was too inferior to its opponents.

The first half was preceded by a wonderful closing ceremony and the arrival on the pitch of the cup, carried by none other than Giorgio Chiellini, captain of the outgoing European champions Italy. The English fans, mindful of that final, also booed the former Juventus defender. The match, like many finals, had a very tactical start: Spain kept the ball but avoided going forward, while England contained their opponents, giving the impression of being dangerous only at times. The first shot on goal was a Foden turn following a well-set corner but which found Unai Simon ready to catch. One of the few thrills of the first half, because Spain always gave the impression of being superior but England defended in a very orderly manner, leading referee Letexier to decree the end of the first half with a fair 0-0.

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Only 2 minutes into the second half, however, Spain scored.: Carvajal serves Yamal who passes it to Nico Williamsable to strike Pickford from inside the penalty area with a great left-footed shot. A phase of great confusion begins for the English, who risk conceding a second goal several times and come very close in particular when Yamal kicks with his left and finds a shot that eight times out of ten would have gone in, but not this time because a Pickford who has played a great game sends it to the corner. The Spanish pressure eases and here comes the equaliser for England: Bellingham – who today played a match worthy of what he showed in Madrid – makes the pass for Palmer from inside the penalty area and the Chelsea talent finds the goal with a great shot, helped by a small deflection by Zubimendi. The inertia seems to be on England’s side, but Southgate’s team stops playing and then first Yamal misses a not too difficult goal, firing it at Pickford, and then Cucurella deflects it for Oyarzabal who found the 2-1 goal that made his fans explode with joy. A sensational header from Guehi saved on the line by Dani Olmo was the last chance for England, followed by four minutes of injury time that ended with the Spanish victory. READ FULL STORY HERE>>>CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING>>>

The victory of de la Fuente’s Spain is not deserved, moreover. Brought in to replace Luis Enrique after the disappointing Qatari expedition, the coach, born in Haro – but Basque and a fan of Athletic thanks to his father, and therefore also belonging to the best school of coaches in the world in relation to the geographical dimensions – has modernized the overly cumbersome game that the Spanish national team had shown at the World Cup, bringing to Germany a team with a clear “Spanish” set-up: very clear positional play, but also capable of verticalizing more than other Spanish national teams had shown to best serve his two phenomena, Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal. We are talking about a team that during the European Championship lost control of the game only for half an hour in the second half against Germany and for 5 minutes in the first half against France. It is difficult to remember other tournaments for national teams that have dominated the game so much. Spain is now expected to show up in the United States in two years as one of the favorites by right: if de la Fuente has shown such a beautiful game in just two years, how far can he get in his fourth year of work?

England, once again, went home empty-handed. It is legitimate to ask whether Gareth Southgate will continue to be the coach of the Three Lions: except for the match against the Netherlands, his national team played frankly very bad football, but it is not easy to show the door the coach who took you to a World Cup semi-final and two European finals after a dark period. There are not many English coaches, however, who come to mind to take up his baton: what if it was time to return to a foreigner after the experiences with ups and downs of Eriksson and Capello? All things considered, it was a bit disappointing Bellingham: he equalized the match against Slovakia with what was perhaps the most beautiful goal of the competition and in the final he did not fail to give his contribution, but after the season with Real Madrid perhaps something more could have been expected. Those who, beyond the disappointment, can return home satisfied are Palmer: the attacking midfielder born in 2002 has always shown his talent when he came on as a substitute and scored in the final with a great goal, showing very clearly that it will be difficult for his national team to do without him in the coming years. England is still a young national team and there is still time to win a trophy that has been missing since 1966, but now this fast is starting to become very annoying, almost a curse. We will see if he is destined to continue.

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2024-07-14 21:55:03
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