Stood just metres away from Harry Kane, who was then breathing heavily behind the still ball at the penalty spot, Gareth Southgate wore his most stoic look. Or at least the England manager tried to drain all known human expressions from his face – perhaps fully aware that because of 25 years ago, there were as many lenses trained on him as there were on the England captain.
Same tournament, same stage, same ground, it was Southgate who stood inside Wembley at Euro ’96, hoping to do exactly what Kane had in mind and foot on Wednesday night – send England into their first final of a major tournament since 1966. A quarter of a century ago, Southgate missed in the tie-breaker and was instantly wrapped by Tony Adams first and self-doubt later.
If that storyline reads eerily like a Bollywood script about a hockey player who fluffed a big penalty and found salvation as a coach, that is because it is. But Southgate’s redemptive arc is truly more fascinating than fiction, because even in a Shahrukh Khan movie the salvation-penalty was not missed as well. In the 104th minute of a breathtaking Euro 2020 semi-final between England and Denmark, Kane’s side-footer was read and even blocked by a magnificent Kasper Schmeichel, but not grabbed.
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So, Kane simply ended his follow-through with a charge towards the rebound from Schmeichel’s solar-plexus and lashed the ball home, and England into their first-ever European Championship final. “There’s nobody you would rather have on it (the rebound),” Southgate would say at the press conference, sipping from a bottle of water and allowing the achievement to sink in with each swallow. “I’ve never heard the new Wembley like this, ever. It’s an incredible occasion to be a part of – we knew it wouldn’t be straightforward.”
It wasn’t. For the first time this tournament, England conceded a goal and went behind when Mikkel Damsgaard whipped his free-kick above the heads of the England wall and crucially, above goalie Jordan Pickford’s gloves. That was at the half-hour mark and a short flash later, England responded with an attack of their own when Kane released Raheem Sterling into the box. What should’ve been a sure-shot goal turned into one of the saves of the tournament by Schmeichel, blocking the hard kick from just inches away.
Schmeichel blocked wave after wave of heavy shelling English aimed at him. But when his defense was breached, it was done so by his own leader, captain Simon Kjaer. A cross from Bukayo Saka, after Kane found him with a sumptuous pass, in the 38th minute would’ve provided an easy tap-in for Sterling, had Kjaer’s last-gasp effort to clear his line not turned into the 11th own-goal of this edition. Still, Kjaer and Denmark fought back with great heart, changing shape and formation and keeping Southgate guessing until the very end.
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The biggest criticism of Southgate’s counter-tactics (not just for the night but for the course of this tournament) has been his extreme reluctance in fielding more than one of his great attacking assets at a time. The 50-year-old’s defensive mindset was best displayed when substitute Jack Grealish was substituted out at the end of the first extra-time period. Just as he had done against Germany, Grealish’s second-half entry against Denmark injected England’s attack with the pace and creativity they so desperately craved.
But the moment Grealish’s vision led to a goal, he was taken off by Southgate – the Aston Villa captain rejoining on the bench the likes of Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Jude Bellingham, all of them unused on Wednesday (Phil Foden played only a part of extra-time). “Not an easy decision, but Jack has totally understood it. In the end he said to me, ‘Gaffer, doesn’t really matter now that we got to the final’. But I must say he had absolutely the impact we were looking for,” Southgate said, now on the defence about being on the defence.
His strategy may not be for everyone, but there is little doubt over the fact that it is working for this set-up – having now floated into largely uncharted territory of a first major final in 55 years. Sure, the electric Sancho (who would’ve walked into any other starting 11) has played a total of six minutes under Southgate in this Euro but it is also under Southgate that goalie Pickford went 726 minutes without conceding a goal in this tournament.
Southgate’s tactics are not designed to please. As a player and then an observer, he watched several flair campaigns by the Three Lions go up in glorious smoke. So, as manager, he arrived with a cold and cunning ploy (and a waistcoat to complete the look), and fast replaced the noise with nuance, the dazzle with determination. His game-plan is bespoke, crafted to focus on how not to lose rather than on finding ways to win. And so far, with just a game to go, they seem to be doing just fine.
