Handbrake finally comes off for glimpse of star potential

And so the ultimate clash of philosophies is off. Spain against England is a final of teams who had seemed to be road-testing theories on the route to Berlin: Spain that it was impossible to win Euro 2024 without playing well in every game, England that it was possible to win it without playing well in any.

- RICHARD JOLLY

Until, as though scarred by the elimination of their soulmates from France, England delivered something that had come to feel out of character: compelling, attacking football. Sluggishness was replaced by speed, disjointedness by moments that demonstrated they could be devastating. Five forgettable games, interspersed only with moments, gave way to a seminal semifinal. After plodding their way around Germany, cocooned in Blankenhain while most of the teams who provided excitement went out, England belatedly stepped up. They head to Berlin buoyed by a buccaneering first half, a brilliant late winner and a glimpse of the team many had hoped they would be.

There was a notion that, stay in Euro 2024 long enough and perhaps England were bound to excel eventually: whether by the law of averages, by key individuals playing themselves into form and fitness, or by developing understanding. The alternative was that they would simply carry on surviving without excelling, that they would bore their way to glory.

No more. They will always have Dortmund, the moment Ollie Watkins silenced the orange wall in Germany’s most iconic stand; the shimmering brilliance of Phil Foden; the dead-eyed accuracy of Harry Kane; the knowledge England had produced their most entertaining performance of Euro 2024 when it mattered most.