Euro2020 – England, ‘twas ever thus

England 1 Italy 1 (Italy win 3-2 on penalties)  
Euro 2020 final, Wembley Stadium  
Sunday 11th July 2021 8pm  

Penalty shoot-outs in either the Euros or the World Cup have been used since 1976 as a way of determining matches drawn after extra time. Here’s a list of teams that have lost finals in either competition this way (Euros are in italics)
1976 – West Germany
1994 – Italy
2006 – France
2021 – England

On one level, England are in very good company there. The other three countries were very good teams at the time of their defeats, studded with star names. On another level, these countries have won 10 major trophies between them since 1976 (Germany 4, Italy 3, France 3). Certainly it’s better than tossing a coin to determine winners, but the stakes of a shoot-out are so huge in terms of football history that I have come to favour an idea whereby matches are settled by the gradual removal of players from each side during extra time. Say two every five minutes, or one every time the ball goes out of play. At least then, something positive determines the winner, rather than players failing to score from 12 yards. 

Anyway, that’s one for Arsene Wenger in his role of chief rule-changer at FIFA, and at least for the time being, the names of Southgate, Kane, Pickford and Maguire will not be up there with Ramsey, Hurst, Banks and Moore in their status in the history of English football. A young French team lost the Euros final on their own home patch back in 2016 and recovered to win the World Cup two years later. England will only have to wait less than 18 months to have that chance.

In the early hours of yesterday (European time), Lionel Messi broke his international tournament hoodoo by winning a major honour with Argentina at the Copa America. It was his fifth final, and the fourth in which he was captain. Two of the four defeats came from penalty shoot-outs. Still, at least Argentina were making finals (albeit an easier task in the Copa America than the Euros, given the level of competition – five different countries have won the trophy in the last 16 editions – compared with 10 in the Euros). 

So, the wait continues. But in the cold light of day, the stats of the final reveal it was a game largely controlled by Italy, who had far more chances as a result of their superior amount of possession. I was struck by the number of times Jordan Pickford was forced to punt the ball upfield, rather than play it out, due to the Italian pressing and a lack of confidence in his team-mates to move the ball forward. The attack of Mount, Sterling and Kane was largely anonymous for most of the game, and Mount should have been replaced by Grealish far earlier. The early goal for England seemed to justify the formation and the selection of Trippier ahead of Saka, but ultimately, you have to wonder whether it might have been a different game if England were more on the front foot tactics-wise. 

Southgate has been praised for making the right calls during the tournament, although bringing on Rashford and Sancho at the death of injury time specifically for the shoot-out didn’t work, as did Southgate’s decision to name the five takers rather than see who fancied it from the eleven players on the pitch. Of course you have to feel for Bukayo Saka, although at least he wasn’t alone in missing. Jordan Pickford saved two penalties, which should have been enough to make him a national hero, but it wasn’t to be. 

In the cold light of day, Italy beat Belgium and Spain (the latter also from penalties, and the Luis Enrique’s players gave them a more difficult game) to reach the final. England did beat Germany, but Ukraine and Denmark are not in the same league. In Russia 2018, they only really faced one top side – Belgium, twice – and lost both times. So they can beat lesser teams, and collect the odd scalp, but generally, by hook or by crook, they will fall short in some way. More often than not against a big name. 

Going back to the tournaments since 1966, here’s a rundown of the teams that eliminated England
1968 - Yugoslavia (Semi-Final)
1970 - West Germany (Quarter-Final)
1972 - West Germany (Quarter-Final – 2 legs, home and away)
1974 - Did not qualify
1976 - Did not qualify
1978 - Did not qualify
1980 - Finals Group stage elimination (Belgium / Italy progressed)
1982 - 2nd group stage elimination (West Germany progressed)

1984 - Did not qualify
1986 - Argentina (Quarter-Final)
1988 - Finals Group stage elimination (Holland / Russia progressed)
1990 - West Germany (Semi-Final) on penalties
1992 - Finals Group stage elimination (Sweden / Denmark progressed)
1994 - Did not qualify

1996 - Germany (Semi-Final) on penalties

1998 - Argentina (Round of 16) on penalties
2000 - Finals Group stage elimination (Portugal / Romania progressed)
2002 - Brazil (Quarter-Final)
2004 - Portugal (Quarter-Final) on penalties
2006 - Portugal (Quarter-Final) on penalties
2008 - Did not qualify

2010 - Germany (Round of 16)
2012 - Italy (Quarter-Final) on penalties
2014 - Finals Group stage elimination (Uruguay / Costa Rica progressed)
2016 - Iceland (Round of 16)
2018 - Croatia (Semi-Final)

2020 - Italy (Final) on penalties

55 years and 27 tournaments. When you look at the number of European club trophies won by English clubs in this time (in spite of a five year ban in the late 1980s), it seems astonishing that England have done so poorly in comparison with other European countries. 

Back to penalty shoot-outs though and England are not alone in suffering. In three consecutive World Cups (1990-1998), Italy were eliminated in shoot-outs, although they have now won two trophies from spot-kicks since. Holland have had wretched luck, losing five out of six. England’s record of losing seven in nine isn’t so great either. Spain in 1996 and Colombia in 2018 the exceptions. The lists can be found here for the Euros, and here for the World Cup.

I've just read that Bukayo Saka has never taken a penalty at senior level, either in a game or in a shootout. I’d not really thought about that before, just his age really. Gareth Southgate has taken the blame for that decision, rightly so as it was his. However, in our disappointment, let’s not be too harsh on the England manager. From the dismissal of Sam Allardyce back in the autumn of 2016, months after England had been knocked out of the Euros by the might of Iceland, Southgate has turned England into contenders. They've followed the German and French models of developing young players in an international context, which led to the under 17 and under 20 World Cup wins in 2017. There is a plan in place now for development of the national side from a young age, rather than just picking the in-form players at the time each squad is selected. England have made the last four in the last two major tournaments and there is – in spite of the disappointment of last night – room for optimism. 

The lesson of the final is simply that they need to work on possession, movement and angles more against top opposition, and perhaps be a little braver and play to their strengths. A balance needs to be found in this respect. You can’t have too many attacking players, but the contributions of England’s starting front three indicated that changes should have been made earlier – they just didn't see enough of the ball. So Saka might have been brought on at half-time before Italy’s leveller, knowing that he can play a defensive as well as attacking role and perhaps create more havoc going forward than Trippier.

I was alive in 1966, but too young to have had any notion of what was going on. My parents both kept diaries at the time and I read in my mum’s recently that she and my father did watch the World Cup Final. Neither cared much for football, but it showed that 55 years ago, it was a big national event, although reading this indicates that both stations were showing the game that Saturday afternoon in July. My dad would normally have wanted to watch the wrestling on ITV that, from memory, used to come on around 4pm. BBC2 did exist at the time, but obviously didn’t tempt my parents enough to switch over. 

At times like last night, I do wonder if I will ever witness England win a major trophy in my lifetime. Given the average age of male death in the UK, statistically, I’ll suffer another eleven final tournaments (there have been 25 so far of which I have had any awareness). As the list above indicates, I’ve got used to England falling short, especially from the penalty spot. 

I can’t get too angry about the failure, time does numb you a bit. Of course, it would have been wonderful to see England win, but it is only a game, a sport. Ultimately a form of entertainment. I’ve seen headlines of Bukayo Saka being racially abused, but chosen not to read the details. That would depress me far more than a football match. Social media can be a force for good, but of course there is a very ugly flipside. However, mindless and ignorant behaviour precedes Twitter, and football will often bring it out in the English race, more often than not fuelled by excessive alcohol consumption. I fear there will be stories of Italian restaurants having their windows put in and Fiats being vandalised, but will try and avoid them. A Danish family was attacked on a bus last Wednesday. I have no words.

In my days as editor of The Gooner, I would sometimes do a diary of major tournaments on the onlinegooner.com website, generally tied in with my actually traveling to watch matches in the host country. Pre-COVID, for the matches that were supposed to take place a year ago, I'd booked a week in Bilbao where I would have seen two Spain group games and then a week in St Petersburg to see the quarter final there (which turned out to be Spain v Switzerland). That was all scrapped with what followed after developments in Wuhan, and Bilbao in the end did not stage any matches, with Spain’s group matches being moved to Seville. It was interesting to note that all four semi-finalists played all of their group games in their own country. And as fate would have it, I did attend a Spain match in the end – their semi-final against Italy. I was also fortunate enough to get a ticket to see England beat Germany. 

The tournament has been a very entertaining one, with some very decent matches. Penalty shoot-outs in the end saw a number of teams make their exit before the final – France lost to Switzerland due to spot kicks, who in turn lost to Spain by the same method. The Spanish then made their exit the same way v Italy, and following the sequence, Italy should have been beaten by England…

It was sadly not to be. The over-riding emotion this morning for this writer is one of resignation. 24 teams enter the tournament, 23 face the misery of failure to win. England gave us hope and some good football, cause for celebration against Germany, Ukraine and Denmark. It didn’t end well, but hell, I’ve got used to that. Immune seems an apt way to describe it this morning.

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