By Phil McNulty.
Spain’s Mikel Oyarzabal celebrates with Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal, left, after scoring his side’s second goal during the final match against England at the European Championships 2024 in Berlin, Germany, on July 14, 2024. – AP Photo.
England’s quest to end 58 years of pain and disappointment ended in failure as they were beaten by Spain 2-1 in the Euro 2024 final at Berlin’s Olympiastadion.
Gareth Southgate’s side were sunk by Mikel Oyarzabal’s late winner to leave England heartbroken again and unable to end the long wait for success for the men’s team.
Spain’s young star wingers combined to give them the lead two minutes after the break as Lamine Yamal’s pass opened up space for Nico Williams to beat England keeper Jordan Pickford with a powerful low finish.
England captain Harry Kane was out of sorts once more and was substituted on the hour and it was Cole Palmer – on for Kobbie Mainoo – who raised hopes of another dramatic comeback with a composed left-foot strike after 73 minutes.
It was Spain, however, who snatched the win four minutes from time as Oyarzabal slid home Marc Cucurella’s cross to leave England the nearly men once more.
England fall short again
England’s hopes of crossing the great divide that has separated them from the major prizes were snatched away by a superior Spain side on a tough night in the German capital.
The iconic stadium was a sea of white as the massed ranks of England supporters vastly outnumbered their Spain counterparts, in the belief that the near misses of previous years were about to end.
And when Palmer’s smooth finish against the run of play 17 minutes from time drew England level, confidence surged. Many will have felt that Southgate’s side were about to mount the sort of comeback that rescued them against Slovakia, Switzerland and the Netherlands earlier in Euro 2024.
This time there was to be no escape, with England being opened up clinically for Oyarzabal’s decisive strike that gave Spain the success their performances throughout the tournament merited.
And just to compound England’s agony, Declan Rice and Marc Guehi both saw headers cleared off the line in the closing moments, firstly by keeper Unai Simon and then Dani Olmo, who celebrated like it was a trophy-winning moment – which it effectively was.
England’s misery was confirmed seconds later, meaning that for all the progress and optimism of Southgate’s eight-year reign, tangible success has escaped them. They have lost two successive European Championship finals, a World Cup semi-final in 2018 and a World Cup quarter-final in Qatar in 2022.
What now for Southgate and England?
Southgate’s contract runs out at the end of this year – and it is not certain if he will stay on.
“Emotionally it would be impossible for me to make a logical decision at the moment on any of that because my sole focus for two years has been winning this tournament,” he said before the final.
England are next in action on 7 September when they go to Dublin to take on the Republic of Ireland in their first 2024-25 Nations League game.
Their homecoming will be three days later against Finland. Those games are in the second division of the Nations League after England were relegated last time.
If Southgate was to leave at the end of his deal, he would see out the six Nations League games but be gone before qualifying started for the 2026 World Cup next year.