ENGLAND’S EURO 2020 CAMPAIGN
by Silvio Scicluna
F
riday 11th June 2021. The day the curtain was belatedly raised on Europe’s showpiece football tournament for national teams, a year later than planned due to the unprecedented effects caused by the global coronavirus pandemic. Yes, it felt strange to be holding EURO 2020 in 2021 but better late than never, as they say. This edition of the Euro’s was meant to be special in that instead of the usual practice of having one host country, this year’s matches were to be played in different countries across the continent, opening opportunities for more fans to enjoy this football spectacle from their own country. How ironic then that such an initiative would go on to be diminished with the pandemic’s effects. Most stadia operated with reduced capacities and it was a shame seeing such great venues like Rome, Wembley, Munich, Amsterdam et al being only half full, or less. There were some exceptions though. Budapest and Copenhagen, for instance, allowed full capacities and these provided electric atmospheres. The upshot of this initiative by UEFA was that some countries had the advantage of playing most of their matches at home, albeit without a full stadium backing. And it was in this context, playing the majority of their matches at Wembley if they played their cards right, that many were tipping England to be one of the favourites to lift the trophy. Added to the fact that the current England side contained some of the most exciting young talent seen in recent years, there was definitely
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an air of optimism in the country this year. Some might argue that it was more a case of overconfidence, flamed in no small measure by strong national media coverage and equally overhyped on social media. But if there was a touch of overconfidence amongst the pundits and fans, this was definitely not the case with the national coach Gareth Southgate who was always at pains to remind everyone to keep their feet on the ground and take each match as it comes, one by one. And so England kicked off their campaign at Wembley against Croatia, who many agreed that they could prove to be the toughest opponent in an otherwise relatively kind looking group on paper. Played in stifling early afternoon heat very much atypical of London, the match was unremarkable, and England did enough to win 1-0 with a Raheem Sterling goal in the second half. Their next match would be against arch-rivals Scotland and contrary to what everybody was predicting I was wary of this fixture, simply and purely because whenever these two rivals meet, form goes out of the window. Derbies are great levellers and sure enough this match turned out to be quite even with Scotland definitely raising their game. They had to because they were coming off a disappointing home defeat against the Czechs in their opener, but you just knew they would be up for it anyway. A 0-0 draw ensued, and Southgate did get a certain amount of stick in the aftermath especially for showing a lack of desire to attack more an opponent who, on paper at least should have been no match for England. But Southgate, ever the
pragmatist, favoured a cautious approach which would ultimately bear fruit as the group progressed. The final match was against the Czech Republic and England already knew prior to kick off that qualification to the next phase was guaranteed due to results elsewhere but Southgate stressed that a win was a must to top the group and stay at Wembley. Another 1-0 victory, again with Sterling getting the only goal, and top spot was secured. On to the round of 16 and there had been some concern amongst England fans prior to the Czech game as to who the potential opponents in the next round would be. Winning the group would mean meeting the runner up from the so-called Group of Death and so it transpired that it would be another arch-rival in Germany which would need to be conquered if England were to progress further. But, looking a bit further forward, if (big IF) they were to win, then a much kinder route to the final beckoned. Therefore, many were prepared to take this ‘risk’ if you like. Then again, if a team seriously aspires to win a tournament, it is bound to meet some of the big nations at some point so might as well get on with it. Following the expected hype and narrative in the build up to any England vs Germany fixture, where many made it a point to remind us just how long the years of hurt were for England in trying to beat Germany, the end justified the means and a stirring 2-0 victory had the nation on cloud nine. Sterling (again!) and the erstwhile quiet Harry Kane got the goals and together with that Thomas Muller miss (!) further cemented the dream
