Spain 2-1 England (Williams 47′, Oyarzabal 86′ | Palmer 73′) OLYMPIASTADION BERLIN — When will it ever end? 58 years of hurt, and counting. The wait for a major men’s tournament trophy will hit a sixth decade by the time the next World Cup comes along. It feels like a lifetime — it has quite literally been one.
Yet another supremely gifted crop of English footballers have gone further than many of the generations before, but still not all the way, ultimately outplayed by Spain and deservedly beaten. Gareth Southgate has done so much to change perceptions of the England national team, internally and externally. England didn’t get to this stage consistently in World Cups and European Championships before Southgate reluctantly took the job and went from caretaker to centurion, the final his 102nd game in charge.
Read Next England vs Spain player ratings as Kane and Rice disappoint in Euro 2024 final But does any of it matter if they can’t win something? How does a nation that produces such talented footballers fail so spectacularly when it comes to the big stage? Paul Gascoigne, Paul Scholes, Alan Shearer, David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Wayne Rooney, Gary Lineker, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand, Kevin Keegan, Harry Kane. Kane and his teammates in Germany, the great and good of football, able between them to open a football museum with all the trophies and winners’ medals they have collected in club football over the past few years. It seems to make no sense.
But ma.
