England's problem, in major tournament game after major tournament game, has been to take an early lead. Since time immemorial the English response to going ahead has been to try to protect what they have, as though inspired by some Boy's Own urge to recreate the siege of Mafeking at every given opportunity. What better way to avoid that then, than by going behind?
That's obviously not the plan, but it does seem in keeping with the wildness of late-era Gareth Southgate. The technocrat with his clipboard and his data has somehow been transformed into a reckless adventurer. Why rust unburnished on the shore when you can set off into the wild seas, court adventure and improvise? Who remembers the back four now? Who remembers the idea of winning tournaments with clean sheets when you can progress with injury-time goals and a sense of narrative inevitability? Coming from behind is how England got past Slovakia and Switzerland, and it was, eventually, how they got past the Netherlands as well.
Football is a capricious game, bedevilled by ironies and paradoxes.
England had, finally in this tournament, looked fluent from the off.
This story is from the July 11, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the July 11, 2024 edition of The Guardian.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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