“One more.” That’s what Gareth Southgate said after England’s victory in the Euro 2024 semi-final. But this last step remains the most difficult. After the defeat against Spain in the Euro 2024 final, one can reasonably wonder if he is capable of crossing it one day.
England came undeniably close to victory in Berlin, with Mikel Oyarzabal scoring the winner in the 86th minute. But was it a case of bad luck? It would be harder to argue that Southgate’s side deserved it, given both teams’ respective journeys to the final and their respective performances.
Spain had 16 shots to England’s nine and had 65.1 per cent possession in a game they led for much of the second half and never trailed. Southgate’s team had their moments. There have been plenty of those this summer. But none of control.
Spain’s Mikel Oyarzabal scores late winner in Euro 2024 final
Southgate’s reign in perspective
For some, the sympathy will be short-lived. But history will treat Southgate’s passage with more kindness than the headlines, or even the conversations in homes, pubs and offices in the coming days. Step back and you will see that he has done far more than those who came before him.
The memorable run to the World Cup semi-finals. The first European Championship final where only a penalty shootout separated England from glory. That first major final on foreign soil. As many knockout stage wins as all the managers before him combined.
Sven Goran Eriksson failed to qualify for major tournaments before the quarter-finals, while Fabio Capello failed to do so. Sir Bobby Robson and Graham Taylor failed to qualify for tournaments. Roy Hodgson suffered humiliation when he did.
This is the world Southgate inherited. He was the company man in 2016, the safe haven after Sam Allardyce was accused of embarrassing the board. They expected the ship to be steadied, but Southgate instead set England on a new course.
His cultural shift accomplished the impossible. For a time, he made watching England fun again. Others had done it, too. playing For England’s sake? That was new. Southgate achieved it, rethinking the national team experience for a new generation.
This time again, the story ended in disappointment. It always does. But the Southgate era was also marked by vests and songs, golden boots and golden summers, Harry Maguire memes and inflatable unicorns. England even went to the World Cup and won a penalty shootout.
It is worth remembering. If it is the end, it will be with Southgate who has more than once come closest to ending this desire to relive 1966, a desire that has become a national psychodrama. The most successful since Sir Alf Ramsey? No doubt.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Fan parks erupted across the country as Cole Palmer scored the equalizer
Many fans might dismiss the fact that Southgate has been such an ambassador as unimportant. It doesn’t. When he chose the right words after his players were racially abused in Bulgaria and Hungary, that mattered. That leadership really did matter.
Against Bulgaria in Sofia, Southgate’s England team became the first international team to stop a football match in response to racist abuse. “I felt we sent a strong, positive message,” he said later. “We care about each other. We are united.”
This unity is a source of pride for which the country should be grateful. It has been made possible in part by the emotional intelligence of the England coach. This position is not limited to football tactics.
Unfortunately, there is more to it than just political skills. On the eve of the Euro 2024 final, a journalist in Berlin praised the manager by saying that if the team could play as well as he spoke, everything would be fine. But Southgate is responsible for both.
His greatest weakness cost him
He undoubtedly had the experience to handle the many unique challenges of the international job. But unlike many others, he always felt that the period between the first and last whistle was what he found most difficult.
Gary Neville rightly pointed out that Southgate is a tournament veteran, someone who has seen a wide variety of scenarios play out on the most glittering stage. When individual matches have their own Wikipedia page, the scrutiny is intense.
In this context, it is surprising to think that even after eight years in the job, Southgate gained most of his managerial experience at Middlesbrough, a position he was relieved of almost 15 years ago. Such is international football.
The game in Switzerland marked his 100th anniversary with England. For comparison, Erik ten Hag surpassed that figure at Manchester United at the end of his second season. Russell Martin, aged just 38, will probably have managed more senior appearances in total before the end of the year.
That might help explain why game management sometimes feels like a challenge. Southgate is a studious guy, doing his homework with the diligence of a Ryder Cup captain, thinking about his peers and studying the history of the course for clues.
He had commissioned a report into how previous tournaments had been won. One of the key takeaways from that report was the importance of defensive solidity, with Didier Deschamps’ work with France seen as a model of success in international football.
The limitation, of course, is that it reveals how to win the last tournament and not the next one. Analyzing the historical value of clean sheets has its merits, but it is not quite the same as forming a unique vision. Perspiration rather than inspiration?
Sensing it in real time, as the clock ticks, is a special skill. Whether instinct or experience, it has been lacking in some key moments. The parallels between two of the greatest games, in 2018 against Croatia and the 2021 final against Italy, are irresistible.
Every time, the dream goal at the start of the match. Every time, the inability to put pressure on to make the advantage concrete. The inertia on the touchline, almost waiting for the equalizer before making changes. And then, the inability to change the course of the match afterwards.
Failed final exam in Germany again
At Euro 2024, things were a little different. The semi-final and final were marked by goals from Southgate’s substitutes Ollie Watkins and Cole Palmer respectively. Unfortunately, that only added to the feeling that he felt the team was not up to par.
Tactically, Southgate has devised a plan that worked in Russia, with the switch to a three-man defence proving a masterstroke. At Euro 2020, he had the confidence to switch between systems, and deployed it to beat Germany in the last 16 after using a four-man defence in the group stage.
At Euro 2024, despite all the individual talent available, the big idea never quite emerged. It was a puzzle he couldn’t solve, with the fitness levels of Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham casting a shadow over the situation. Southgate failed to find the synergy.
Despite this, he was able to count on the support of his team throughout the game, which is a testament to his unity. Declan Rice spoke for the majority of his team when he said the England players would do anything to protect this manager. “I feel sorry for Gareth,” said Phil Foden.
Their frustration with outside forces was never conveyed to their manager – it may be decades before books about it come out. But the idea persists: Southgate had a team capable of winning and he didn’t quite realise its potential.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Aaron McLean reacts to England being repeatedly denied the line by Spain
If these players are really high quality – and most of them have the trophies, individual and collective, to prove it – why haven’t they managed to do it? If these players really work hard and come together as a group, why does it so often become a struggle?
Watching England’s players chase the ball in vain before getting back into position, one was tempted to conclude that they simply couldn’t compete with a team like Spain in terms of possession. But why? Should we accept this deficit?
It was the opposition who lost the player of the tournament at half-time in the final. Real Sociedad’s 25-year-old Martin Zubimendi, making his ninth international appearance, controlled the game, completing more passes than any England player in the second half.
These failures are well known to this selection, but harder to explain now that half of the starters are playing for clubs under Pep Guardiola or Mikel Arteta. And that’s before the superstars of Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are even taken into account.
And yet there is the sight of the goalkeeper kicking the ball away from the kick-off, the clumsiness of the attempted pass from the back, and the players out of breath at the final whistle, exhausted after being wiped out once again on the big stage.
Those limitations are now part of Southgate’s story. But that’s only part of it. Management is in the details. But if Southgate will be remembered with frustration for his mistakes on the small details, he will also be remembered with affection for the big things he did well.
England will hope that the next manager – whoever he is – will be better at some things, but they know that he will almost certainly be worse at others. In the end, Southgate has fallen short. But has he wasted this generation of talent? It is just as easy to argue that he helped create it.
