LONDON – When the Wembley Stadium announcer roared with the final score – “England 2, Germany 0” – Gareth Southgate’s vision momentarily deflected from his victorious players to the big screen.
David Beckham and Ed Sheeran, radiant from the VIP seats, revel in England’s passage to the quarter-finals of the European Championship on Tuesday. Prince William, his wife Kate and 7-year-old Prince George were also there to celebrate, as enthusiasts. I simply love his subjects than royalty.
But it was David Seaman’s sight that caught Southgate’s attention and made him stop, to reflect, in one of his best moments as England manager, on the pain of 25 years ago, Southgate’s missed penalty at the former Wembley that put an English team at a disadvantage with Seaman. in order to have the chance to triumph in the final of Euro 96.
“For the teammates who played with me, I can’t replace that, so it’s going to hurt,” Southgate said. “But what this organization of players was able to do was give a new generation a lot of satisfied memories and something later where they did a little bit of history. “
England is, in spite of everything, relieved of the weight of its apassnizing history against the Germans. It was a day that was more reminiscent, albeit with a long way to go at Euro 2020, of the final victory of the 1966 World Cup against them in the same place.
Not that it’s easy. As in England’s two organisational victories, Raheem Sterling was on the record, breaking the tense impasse in the 75th minute, but this time, Harry Kane, despite everything, scored his first goal at Euro 2020, easing the strain on the shoulders of the 2018 World Cup Golden Boot winner.
“With all the expectations and the pressure, we held on,” Kane said. “This is a moment none of us will ever forget. The best afternoon. “
It’s time for England to win in the eighth European Championship final. The last such triumph came here in the penalty shootout against Spain at Euro 96 before the hosts were denied a position in the final via Germany in the penalty shootout.
It was in the penalty shootout that Germany also beat England in the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup. Then the English purpose was wrongly denied when Germany eliminated the English from the 2010 World Cup.
From now on, England will face either Sweden or Ukraine in the euro 2020 quarter-finals on Saturday in Rome, with a view to returning to Wembley for the semi-finals and final.
It marked the end of Joachim Löw’s 15-year reign as the 2014 World Cup-winning coach takes time to take his next steps.
“We weren’t clinical enough,” he said. The team wants to mature to be more successful. “
There will be doubts about the variety of Southgate’s team and perseverance with Kane, as he only controlled one touch in the opposing penalty domain in the first half and it was a bad move, taking a ball too far from Manuel Neuer as he looked to dodge the goalkeeper. .
But while Sterling’s goals spearheaded England’s progress in this tournament largely at home, Jordan Pickford’s stops were also essential, adding a hand to fend off Kai Havertz’s shot early in the middle of the moment.
The clamour to present Jack Grealish grew by the middle of the moment, leading enthusiasts to sing wembley internally, with a crowd of around 40,000 people, britain’s largest since the pandemic began in March 2020.
The winger, however, came in with about 20 minutes of play and played a role in the first goal.
Sterling faced the defenders first, overtaking Antonio Rüdiger before passing to Kane, whose dismissal of Grealish then passed to Luke Shaw, and it was the centre of the left-back that Sterling connected with, passing Neuer with his right boot.
“We knew how intense we could play,” Sterling said, “and few can cope. “
Despite all the joy of the German team compared to England’s youth, World Cup winner Thomas Müller, who squandered the chance to equalize in the 81st minute. Clean with only Pickford to beat, Müller put the ball out.
Kane showed him how to do it, heading to a Grealish centre in the 86th minute to score the England goal that slipped away from him in the organising stage.
“When you’re a centre forward, no matter what else you do in the game,” Southgate said, “you want those goals. “
England have yet to concede any goals in their 4 matches, as in the 1966 World Cup, and finished well.
“This,” Kane said, “will give us confidence in ourselves in the future. “