England 1 Spain 2: Three Lions suffer Euros final heartache again as Southgate and his heroes fall at last hurdle
KEEP on living dangerously and eventually you are going to slip and break your necks.
Gareth Southgate’s men had strolled along a tightrope throughout this entire tournament, falling behind in all four of their knock-out ties.
And despite supersub Cole Palmer threatening to rescue them with an equaliser, Mikel Oyarzabal netted the 86th-minute winner for Spain’s deserving champions.
England had been poor throughout most of this Euros tournament and they were thoroughly outplayed for the vast majority of the final.
There may have been late heartbreak but this was not a case of glorious failure.
Spain were a far superior football team for the past four weeks, England were a team living on moments.
And that is how the final panned out, Spain passed and moved England to smithereens, while England enjoyed just one moment from Palmer.
Football is not coming home and Southgate will surely be heading off now.
He has raised England significantly over these past eight years but after two finals, a semi and a quarter-final, he will go down in history as a nearly man.
A nearly man who succeeded a whole bunch of nowhere-near men but a nearly man all the same.
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If there had been English optimism before kick-off then it was due to the wondrous weirdness of this road movie to Berlin.
The way Southgate’s team seemed to have cast off so many age-old English failings - an injury-time equaliser, five perfect shoot-out spot-kicks and a last-minute semi-final winner.
Those sorts of things didn’t happen to us until Southgate came along.
Fatalism had been replaced by a sense of destiny - however much more impressive the Spanish had been in getting here.
The English had travelled in their tens of thousands, wide-eyed and thirsty, the QR codes on their phones like golden tickets to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.
A first major final on foreign soil, and for those who could remember the 1990s, the sweetness of a major final in the German capital of all places.
It was nothing like that wretched night at Wembley three years ago, when
Luke Shaw, the only Englishman to score in a major international final in the past half-century, was back for his first start since February 18 at Luton.
This atmospheric arena, where Jesse Owens defied Adolf Hitler, was a long way from Kenilworth Road.
The English were in fine voice but Spain started with a matador’s strut, looking every inch a team who had arrived on the back of six straight wins, none of them on penalties.
Nico Williams was a menace on the left and John Stones needed to execute a tackle perfectly on the edge of the six-yard box to deny the winger a clear sight of goal.
Southgate scrapped the back three which had served him so well and reverted to a 4-2-3-1, with Jude Bellingham shoved out on the left like a spare part.
It was scruffy, scrappy, nervy stuff, with only Shaw looking assured, and Kane - who hasn’t looked match-fit all tournament, was booked for a mistimed lunge at Fabian Ruiz.
Declan Rice was having a shocker, Stones was playing hospital back-passes, Foden - the supposed firestarter - was nonexistent and Kane was lumbering.
Finally, as the half drew to a close, England woke up.
Bellingham burgled the ball, Kane had a shot blocked by Rodri, Walker surged forward and won a free-kick which Shaw delivered to Foden at the back post, forcing Unai Simon into the first save of the match.
Rodri had injured himself denying Kane and was withdrawn at half-time but any joy from that apparent good news was very short-lived.
It had been well signposted that Spain’s chief threat came from their wingers but England didn’t read the danger.
And 69 seconds into the second half, they were behind for the fourth match in succession.
Lamine Yamal, who’d only turned 17 only the eve of the final, darted inside from the right, stretching England, and slipping a diagonal pass to Williams who side-footed first time past Jordan Pickford.
In previous matches, England had responded sharply to conceding first - here they threatened to disintegrate.
Dani Olmo soon screwed a shot wide, Stones cleared off the line from Alvaro Morata Williams drilled one narrowly wide.
England could barely put a foot right and there was no surprise when the labouring Kane was withdrawn in favour of semi-final hero Watkins.
There was a sudden lift for England, Bellingham spun on his heel, leaving two Spaniards on the floor, but fired wide.
Spain passed and moved, England panicked and scrambled and Pickford pushed a Yamal effort round the post.
But then Southgate sent on Palmer for Mainoo and within two minutes England were level.
The Chelsea man fed Saka, who burst down the left and located Bellingham for a sweet lay-off, which Palmer buried left-footed, low and thunderous.
Spain continued to probe and Yamal forced Pickford into a sprawling stop before the winner arrived.
It was a passing move which had England shadow-chasing, ending with Marc Cucurella beating Walker to the ball and centring low for Oyarzabal to get in front of Guehi and poke past a wrong-footed Pickford.
From a Palmer corner, Rice had a header saved and Marc Guehi’s followed up was cleared off the line by Dani Olmo.
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But England’s underdog spirit finally wore off.
It will be 60 years of hurt by the time the World Cup comes round and it ain’t getting any less painful.
