Key events
The penalty shootout was the only part of England’s game that appeared to be planned.
Jonathan Wilson
England are left doing it on the hoof. Trent Alexander-Arnold! No, Conor Gallagher! Errr, let’s try Kobbie Mainoo. A back four? Let’s give a back three a go, but not really a back three. Oh God, we’re 1-0 down with 15 minutes left. All of you creative lads, on! 3-1-5-1, whatever! Somebody, just do a moment of brilliance! Thanks, Bukayo.
Is it luck or has Gareth Southgate has created the perfect environment for England’s success? Hmm, I think we have an article about that.
I found myself questioning whether Gareth Southgate is a genius or the luckiest manager in England’s history. I was calling for him to make a change throughout the second half and within minutes of his triple substitution, England equalised.
Barney Ronay
This England team is often accused of being lucky, even when there are stats and numbers to support its processes. Here are some more. England goalkeepers saved two penalties in shootouts between 1990 and 2012. Pickford has saved four out of 14 faced since 2018. This is cause and effect in action. It’s skill, planning and a lesson in how to win; which certainly makes a change from baffled and tear-stained defeat.
Pickford’s water bottle played a deciding role in the shootout.
Jordan Pickford also had a big hand (literally) in England’s victory. His penalty save from Manuel Akanji was the difference between England and Switzerland.
Three years on from the racist abuse Saka received after his penalty against Italy and about three weeks on from seeing his face plastered over back pages after England’s loss to Iceland, most people are just happy to see Saka smiling.
Read more about Saka’s defiant performance here.
Barney Ronay
Saka is a player you just love to see have these moments, to smile, to remind you – in between running and working and covering because he is the most assiduous of modern footballers – that this is still at bottom a matter of play, joy, fun and invention. And he deserves this too, because football has been hard on Saka.
Almost everything England did well on against Switzerland came through Bukayo Saka. He rose to the occasion to get England back into the game with an equaliser on 80 minutes. He also stepped up to score a penalty just three years after the infamous EURO 2020 final against Italy.
You can read more about the EURO 2024 media coverage here.
Watching England v Switzerland, I couldn’t help but think that the pendulum has swung the other way with regard to criticism of the team. England were better organised on Saturday than previous games but they still looked unbalanced with most of their joy coming down the right hand side. Yet at half time I got the sense that the BBC told the pundits to get behind the team. Save the real criticism for The Rest Is Football podcast.
Gareth Southgate spoke about the criticism he’s received throughout the tournament.
“I can’t deny that some of the personal nature, you know … ,” he said. “This is a job where you get ridiculed, and your professional capability is questioned beyond belief, and I don’t think it’s normal to have beer thrown at you either.
“But I’m fortunate that my life’s taken me through a lot of resilience-building and it’s made me more determined and I’m just using it as fuel. I know where I want to take the team to. The team need to see me strong in those moments as well, otherwise that messaging that you’re giving them on what they need to be, it doesn’t ring true.”
Jacob Steinberg
England had gone 20 years without reaching a semi-final before Southgate took over in 2016. Since reaching the last four of the 2018 World Cup, they have lost to Italy on penalties in the Euro 2020 final and fallen to France in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup.
EURO 2024 could be Gareth Southgate’s last hurrah. While his tactics during the tournament have been questionable, his overall record for England is not.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to this EURO 2024 live blog.
Are you getting your hopes up yet? I know England have played dreadfully but their Euros campaign has the makings of a warm and uplifting TV film. Let’s consider all the elements so far:
We’ve got the man who writes his own scripts, Jude Bellingham, as the protagonist; we’ve got the loveable underdog, Bukayo Saka, fresh from an incredible comeback; and we’ve got the antagonists, the media, whose criticism is fuelling England’s success. Not to mention, the sun is shining and we have a new government. So, maybe we should be (cautiously) hopeful.
Keep refreshing this page for the latest updates from the England camp as well as all the build up to Spain v France and Netherlands v England in the semi-finals.
