WHEREVER England base themselves at next summer’s Euros finals, one venue is out of the question.
Baden-Baden — so mad they named it twice — hosted an extraordinary WAG circus at the 2006 World Cup, the last major football tournament to be held in Germany.
That plush Black Forest spa resort became synonymous with all that was wrong with England’s football team during the celebrity-obsessed regime of manager Sven-Goran Eriksson and captain David Beckham.
The grounded good sense of Gareth Southgate — who played with Goldenballs and loathed Beckham-mania — means the set-up could hardly be more different 18 years on.
The Three Lions squad led by Eriksson arguably boasted more world-class players — yet was always weaker than the sum of its parts.
And when the squad’s wives, girlfriends and many other family members started downing the peach bellinis and dancing on tables in Baden-Baden, their antics overshadowed the football.
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England, bang-average throughout that World Cup, lost to Portugal on penalties in a quarter-final that saw Wayne Rooney sent off for stamping on Ricardo Carvalho’s gonads.
Eriksson’s side might not have fared any better had their nearest and dearest behaved impeccably or stayed at home — but the overall impression of the inherent silliness of that England regime was accurate.
Those based in Baden-Baden tell extraordinary tales of that ludicrous month — a book or a TV drama on the whole shebang would be fascinating and hilarious.
Instead we have the current Netflix documentary on Beckham — part of the spiral of celebrities courting publicity, then courting further publicity by moaning about publicity.
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It is a spiral Southgate has been determined to avoid, from early in his reign after Rooney was swiftly ditched following a wedding-crashing episode at the team hotel.
A generation from now it is highly unlikely we will be sitting down to watch similar documentaries about Jude Bellingham and his partner.
Bellingham, a far more complete footballer than Beckham, is quite the opposite in terms of his media profile.
His father Mark, a former police officer, ensures his son is the only member of England’s squad not allowed to speak to the written Press.
Southgate has always encouraged his players to speak honestly and openly while on international duty and, as a result, his team is considered far more likeable than the failed ‘Golden Generation’ — not that many of them were bad blokes.
But Bellingham, an engaging and erudite young man, is an exception.
Still, under Southgate, England are unified, happy and utterly focused on their football.
They are good at it, too, having performed well in three successive tournaments and topped their Euros qualifying group with two games to spare thanks to a Bellingham masterclass in Tuesday’s 3-1 victory over reigning champions Italy.
If England are fully fit, they have obvious options in eight or nine of their 11 starting places. Barring injury, Jordan Pickford, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Declan Rice, Bellingham, Bukayo Saka and Harry Kane will almost certainly start in England’s first Euros match next June.
Marcus Rashford could yet be replaced by a resurgent Raheem Sterling. And Luke Shaw, who has enjoyed two fine tournaments, is favourite at left-back, where Kieran Trippier can provide excellent cover.
England are only weak in the second centre-half and second central-midfield roles — not helped by Harry Maguire and Kalvin Phillips not playing regularly at their clubs, while Jordan Henderson has ditched elite-level football altogether.
With hosts Germany in disarray, Italy, Spain and Holland indifferent and Belgium fading, only France and Portugal can be argued to have as good a chance as England of winning next summer’s tournament.
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The draw in Hamburg on December 2 will be eagerly awaited and after that, Southgate and the FA will name their training base.
And there will not be a peach bellini in sight.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
