And so it came to pass that Spain beat England 2-1 in the final of the 2024 European Championship. This is a result to add to the memories of Spain I’ve acquired by living there for much of the past year. I haven’t seen every match of the tournament but there’s no doubt in my mind that Spain played consistently the best football, and are worthy Champions. England ran them close in the final, though. Despite Spain having about 66% of the possession it took a very late goal to win it.
So football’s not coming home after all. Evidently it’s still on sabbatical…
I feel a bit sorry for the manager Gareth Southgate. He may not have won a trophy with England (yet) but he’s taken them further in more competitions than most of his predecessors. He attracted a great deal of criticism for his cautious approach in the earlier stages of this competition which he dealt with in a remarkably dignified way. All that eased off a bit when England got to the knockout stage, but I suspect it may come back. Will he put up with it for another two years until the 2026 World Cup?
As for Spain, this is the fourth time they have been European Champions; England have never won this competition. The Spanish squad is very youthful squad too, including the brilliant teenager Lamine Yamal. Nico Williams had a superb tournament too.
P.S. This evening’s match was broadcast live on RTÉ so I watched it at home. By contrast, yesterday’s rugby between Ireland and the Springboks was not available on a free channel so I was forced against my will to watch it in a pub. I’m glad I did!
P.P.S the choice of schedule leading up to the Euros final is interesting:
In the Dark 