He is a most unlikely messiah, the dutifully modest Gareth Southgate leading England into the Promised Land, cheered on by the House of Windsor, the head of state, the pied piper of pop, Ed Sheeran, and perhaps the most significant of all, David Beckham.
We are in the midst of a rare moment of unity and celebration, an expression of nationhood washing over an exultant populace. At the centre of it all a quiet, unassuming professional of overwhelming decency who truly represents the best of us.
From a technical point of view there are those who are not in accord with Southgate’s selections and tactics, but on nights like Tuesday, when scenes at a raucous Wembley were replicated across a country in the grip of frenzied abandon, the quality of performance was just a detail. There was something far bigger going on.
In the context of the past 15 months, England beating Germany gave a Covid-ravaged nation not only something to celebrate but permission to go nuts. There wasn’t much social distancing in Trafalgar Square and other public spaces up and down the land. As much as organisers tried to respect the circumstances with designated seating, the occasion proved impossible to contain.
Freedom Day, designated for July 19, was brought forward in an impromptu eruption. The whole of England held hands and walked into the new dawn. Prince William and Kate led the celebrations at Wembley with another future king, Prince George, clapping along.
Boris Johnson sat glued to a screen in Downing Street next to wife Carrie and was on his feet in what appeared to be a genuine act of spontaneity to celebrate England’s opening goal. All of this was gathered up by ITV and BBC, who led their flagship ten o’clock news broadcasts, with the story of the hour.
And this on a day when a further 20,000 Britons returned a positive Covid test, police launched an investigation into the harassment of England’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty, the man who has steered us through the pandemic, and the west coast of America broiled in record temperatures.
The calmest bloke in England, it seemed, was Southgate, who gave a brief, two-handed salute before continuing with the requirements of office, namely commiserating with his opposite number, Joachim Low, then seeking out his players for deserved congratulation. Southgate has not missed a beat, striking all the right notes during an awkward group stage in which the aesthetic rarely rose above meat and two veg.
He again erred on the side of caution in his selection against Germany, resisting calls for greater expression with a team designed to contain more than entertain. Initially this resulted in an all-too familiar pattern of flailing Englishmen frantically trying to contain continental sophisticates. Social media began to hum with pockets of discontent as a generation raised on Football Manager tweeted the error of Southgate’s ways.
With Germany bossing the early exchanges, ribbing Southgate over a team with five defenders and two defensive midfielders at the expense of Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, Mason Mount and Jadon Sancho, was an open goal. England, summoning that indefatigable yeoman spirit, did begin to get the measure of the opposition yet there was no clear evidence of supremacy until the introduction of Grealish with barely 20 minutes to go.
Whether as a result of brilliant management or luck, England broke through. The goal met the scale of the occasion, a thing of beauty born of the very skill and endeavour for which the fans had been calling. A pass out of defence to Raheem Sterling. He turned and drove at the heart of a tiring German defence. The ball passed quickly through the feet of Harry Kane, Grealish and Luke Shaw. A drilled cross into the six yard box picked out the run of Sterling. He doesn’t miss from there.
The nation erupted in crowd scenes that would shortly be replayed back to them in news reels, a moment in history. The second was the product of similarly ambitious aggression. Thomas Muller’s epic miss when an equaliser looked certain emboldened England further. Luke Shaw nicked possession on the halfway line and advanced at pace. Grealish ran wide to receive Shaw’s pass. Kane’s eyes bulged with expectation. They think it’s all over. It is now.
Kane disappeared beneath a hill of celebrating team-mates. Elsewhere folk with nil affection for sport plugged into the moment, pulled along by the festival spirit. For Kane read Andy Murray winning Wimbledon, Jonny Wilkinson kicking English rugby to the 2003 World Cup, Jos Buttler whipping off the bails in a moment of super over ecstasy.
Except, as Southgate was at pains to point out, England have won nothing yet. And so to Rome, where Ukraine await in the quarter-final. How on earth will we cope? Fear not. In Gareth we trust. Southgate will show us the way.
More from i on Euro 2020
- England aren’t ‘rubbish’ and Southgate isn’t a ‘fraud’ – we just need a bit of patience
- What the Premier League could learn from Euro 2020’s controversy-free referees
- The football nomad who became a hero for his role in saving Eriksen’s life
- How Ronaldo’s Coca-Cola stunt could change the face of football sponsorship
- How to watch every Euro 2020 match on TV and online in the UK
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3AbFG4Z
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