England v Spain: Why time is not on Southgate’s side ahead of historic final
From the delirium in Dortmund, it was back to Blankenhain for England.
Away from the frenzy of fandom in the northwest hub of Germany’s European Championship to the tranquillity of the Weimarer Land that has been home for approaching five weeks.
The players rarely venture out of their resort hotel, so are unlikely to have seen the bakery with Three Lions doughnuts.
But they will have seen the England flags fluttering in the small town making them feel at home as they try to bring football home.
Inside the base camp there were live broadcasts to the fans from England’s online channels today – hearing from the man of the moment.
Ollie Watkins, the super sub with the sweet scoring touch, who completed the comeback to see off the Netherlands 2-1 was watching all the beer-flying celebrations from back home.
“Just obviously keep supporting us. One more game to go,” the Aston Villa striker said. “The support doesn’t go unnoticed, all the boys see the videos.”
The video many fans were sharing were of that last-gasp goal that prevented the need for agonising and draining extra time.
Watkins had only come onto the pitch less than 10 minutes earlier – to make only his second appearance at a tournament
There was one message from manager Gareth Southgate: “Just go on and win it for us.”
And that he did – after combining with fellow substitute Cole Palmer.
The duo thrust into becoming the team’s saviours – as part of only the third England men’s team to win a semi-final.
They are hindered going into Sunday’s final by playing a day after Spain beat France in the other semi-final.
Southgate has little time to prepare his team for the formidable task of taking on a side that has won all six games at the tournament without the need for extra time.
England, though, dropped points in two group games and played an additional hour in the knockout phase.
“The extra day is a concern,” Southgate said.
“In the last few tournaments that’s been a problem for finalists, so we’ve got to do the very best we can to recover the players as well as we can.
“But we’re not going to be on the training ground. That’s simple. We’ll be walking through things or delivering things in meetings, which was the same for this game.
“But we’re in there and with what we’ve shown to this point we have as good a chance as they do.”
The players could spend the evening reminding themselves what a European Championship-winning England side looks like – as the Lionesses play Ireland on Friday in their penultimate qualifier for next year’s tournament.
England women’s boss Sarina Wiegman’s side also set the standard England are matching by reaching two finals – winning the trophy in 2022.
They also made it all the way at the Women’s World Cup last year before losing to Spain in final.
It is further back since the men’s teams faced off – with a win each in the Nations League encounters in 2018. Their last tournament meeting saw England win on penalties at the Euro 96 in the quarter-finals at Wembley.
This final will surely be England’s biggest-ever match overseas.
Expect an influx by air and road of fans to reach the German capital – to be at the 71,000-capacity Berlin Olympic stadium or just in the city.
The only time England’s men have reached finals before were at Wembley – at the 1966 World Cup and the pandemic-restricted Euros final in 2021.
And the last two World Cups have been staged in less favourable locations.
So you have to go back to Euro 2016 to find such a vast England following, but that was a tournament to forget – perhaps the lowest point in the nation’s football history.
But crashing to rock bottom with the humiliating exit to Iceland was ultimately the launchpad for the Southgate era with three semi-finals and now two finals.
And what about the manager who instigated the 2016 humiliation as Iceland manager?
Heimir Hallgrímsson, the newly-appointed Ireland boss, today predicted: “England is going to win the tournament.”
He’s seen – like everyone else – how England have been grinding out results. But somehow in Germany, they keep delivering at the death.
Southgate’s hope is they have managed to recover enough to pull off one more memorable win.
Sunday’s final will be Southgate’s 102nd game in charge of England
Had England exited earlier in the Euros – particularly to the lower-ranked nations Slovakia or Switzerland – the relationship with the fans could have fractured to prevent Southgate being able to stay.
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But the FA has had no desire to cut ties and Southgate leading England to back-to-back Euros finals would reinforce a desire to extend a contract that expires at the end of the year.
It has always appeared to be Southgate’s call.
The 53-year-old could decide it is time to leave after eight years, particularly given the criticism and ridicule that has frustrated him around this tournament.
For now, the focus is on plotting to overcome Spain.