THREE years ago, England fell back in love with its football team in a joyous, but ultimately doomed, summer romance.
Yet this march to a major tournament has been far more impressive than that Russian odyssey at the 2018 World Cup.
Now we see a team as an image of its manager – sensible, intelligent, patient, worldly, well-prepared and likeable.
This is Gareth Southgate’s England, built over five years – a team which is assured but never arrogant, quietly ruthless but never reckless, solid but rarely dull.
The only thing big-headed about them is the bonce with which Harry Maguire nutted England’s crucial second in Rome.
This is a team with so many of the strengths which used to be elusive to England in tournament football – keeping the ball, keeping heads, managing games, managing expectations.
That Russian campaign was constructed on a serene build-up, a settled starting XI, set-piece prowess and relatively soft opposition.
This has been a far more complex proposition – key injuries, no meaningful warm-up matches, classier opponents, the bizarre Covid regulations which robbed him of Mason Mount for the previous two fixtures.
And England have been markedly better – more solid in defence, more dominant in midfield, more incisive from open play.
Southgate’s team have reached the semi-finals without conceding a goal and, despite some conservatism, they have been far more effective from open play than in Russia.
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England’s manager knows his mind and he knows his team’s core.
His four goalscorers at these Euros have all been widely doubted – Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane for their form, Harry Maguire and Jordan Henderson for their fitness.
Southgate stayed loyal, stayed calm, and stuck with his instincts.
Do you pick on form or reputation? Why not do both?
Luke Shaw is the bolter in this starting line-up, with three assists from left-back, two of them in Rome last night.
Shaw is full of it – the player he promised to be as a teenager before the ugly leg-break which derailed him for so long.
It hasn’t always been thrill-a-minute – at least not until the second-half evisceration of Ukraine – but tournaments are rarely won by the most flamboyant team.
England have grown into these finals and are hitting their stride in time for Wednesday’s semi-final against a dangerous Denmark side, high on emotion but with far more about them than that.
Sterling has been excellent from the off, despite patchy club form. Kane has rediscovered his sharpness, as Southgate always believed he would.
But there have been heroes everywhere – Declan Rice, the midfield track-and-trace man. Kalvin Phillips, the man-bunned wrecking-ball.
Maguire and John Stones, a classic centre-half pairing. Jordan Pickford, with more clean sheets than a hotel laundry.
And Southgate has marshalled his squad expertly in this tournament.
He trusts the depth of his resources far more than in Russia – and he has needed to, given the unique challenges of managing in the Covid era, on the back of the most congested club season of all.
Only three of England’s outfield players – the defensive trio of Ben Chilwell, Conor Coady and Ben White – are yet to feature.
His myriad of attacking options have been well-juggled. After an intense period, England do not look a tired team.
Of course, England have lost all four of their semi-finals since 1966 – five if you include the 2019 Nations League.
But we know full well how Southgate’s men have put history books through the shredder on several occasions, most recently in that landmark victory against Germany on Tuesday.
Most England players of the past half-century admit that they have been dragged down by the past – Southgate has made it his mantra to sack it all off and rewrite it.
Now, though, for the Danes.
It would be easy to suggest that the extreme emotion of Christian Eriksen’s cardiac arrest three weeks ago has swept Denmark into the semis – and of course that has been a factor.
But they are a serious team, as Southgate certainly learned when Denmark defeated his side at Wembley last October in the Nations League last October, following a goalless draw in Copenhagen a month earlier.
There will be no complacency from Southgate – and there was never a hint of such a failing against the Ukrainians, following the euphoria of sending home the Germans.
Southgate set the tone with his adamant eve-of-match insistence that he had not even considered resting players on yellow cards – Maguire, Rice and Phillips.
And Ukraine had barely touched the ball before England scored – an expert pass from Sterling, instinctive movement from Kane and the confident finish of a man who’d killed off the Germans.
Then that early second-half deluge – thumping headers from Maguire, Kane and Henderson, with a long-waited first goal in international football.
This was as emphatic a performance as England have ever managed at a major tournament and their biggest knockout stage win ever, beating the 3-0 wins over Denmark at the 2002 World Cup and Paraguay at the 1986 World Cup.
The last time England scored four times in a knockout stage game was the 1966 World Cup final…
It was a night to savour but, with Southgate at the helm, England will never get drunk on their successes.
Leave all that to the beer-chucking masses, lapping it all up back home.
This campaign is no fleeting summer fling. This is the real thing.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
