It is one of the great, enduring myths that the great, and not so great, English armchair sporting lovers are convinced that their team, in this case their football team, only has to turn up in order to win the tournament they are in. Yes, there are some folk, usually those who know next to nothing about football, who are convinced that ‘football’s coming home’, but there are far more of us who don’t. Most of us just want to enjoy the ride, preferably a long ride, in that tournament.
Take the group stages of this years Euro 2020. Please. Apparently, in only winning two of our three games and not conceding a single goal, we were the worst team in the world. Why on earth was Gareth Southgate picking ‘unfit and out-of-form’ Harry Kane, not good enough Raheem Sterling, two dour central midfielders who only passed backwards and why oh why did he take Harry Maguire and Jordan Henderson who weren’t even fit? We had no chance against Germany, did we?
I always saw England v Germany as a 50/50 game, but I was completely wrong. Southgate’s match plan of staying in the game for the first hour and taking it to Germany late on worked a treat, with the hated Kane and Sterling scoring crucial goals, Maguire performing brilliantly at the back, Henderson coming on late to shore things up and Jack Grealish making a late and dramatic impact. We deserved to win. No one in their right mind would suggest otherwise. But are we getting carried away? Hell, no.
Granted the red tops are, but hardly anyone reads them. Barely 500,000 people buy the Sun which represents considerably less than 1% of the population. Of that 500,000 people, few if any are young people, say aged under 50. So, who is it, exactly, who is taking in the red top hype? It must be mainly old people, although in Bristol last night it was mainly young people who were out celebrating.
Put simply, most England fans, and every England fan I know, is pleased we have reached the quarter finals. We recognise we are on the ‘easier’ side of the draw and if – a big if – we defeat the Ukraine in Rome this Saturday, any remaining games will be at a full Wembley. In other words, we have a chance, but we are not saying we are going to win.
The euphoria is down to two things. Firstly, England have failed to win a championship since 1966. We have flattered to deceive on occasions and in others – 1990 and 1996 – we knocked on the door of the final but found it locked. Essentially, we are desperate to win something, anything, and why not this tournament? The second reason is Covid-19.
We have been locked down, of a sort, since March 2020. Life has been anything but normal and it has been particularly awful for young people who should have been out there doing the things that young people do. Now, as we near the end of restrictions, and because of last week’s Cockgate, featuring the former health secretary in a socially undistant French kiss with someone who wasn’t his wife, young people are doing it for themselves. Or girls (and boys) just wanna get pissed.
It is easy to view England today and assume the whole country now thinks Southgate is God and that he will lead us to the promised land. But both he and his team have allowed us to dare to dream, that’s all. And if you go through life without dreams of a brighter day is it worth living at all?
1 comment
5
Comments are closed.