Spain They deserve to win the Euro 2024 final, but EnglandThe perspective should not be on how better their opponents in Berlin were on the night, but how better they were throughout the tournament.
If you were to rank the 14 team performances by quality between the two teams in this tournament, Spain would have seven and England seven. That’s the difference. Spain impressed and fascinated in every game. Like any other team, they had weaknesses, but those weaknesses were usually born of bravery and eagerness to attack.
England had a disappointing group stage, struggling in attack but at least solid defensively, and in the knockout rounds, apart from a penalty awarded to England in the semi-final, NetherlandsEngland’s expected goals (xG) was higher than the number of goals they created in all four games.
And judging by the starting lineups, that’s simply not going to happen.
The latest Ballon d’Or, which is contested seasonally rather than annually and was decided at this time last year, had no players from Spain on its list of 30 candidates. In the British newspaper The Guardian’s list of the 100 best players in the world, which will be voted on at the end of 2023, Spain has only three players in the top 70. Of those three, Gavi He missed the entire Euro 2024 due to injury, Pedri An injury suffered early in the quarter-finals ruled him out for the rest of the tournament. Germanyand Rodri In the final, he had to leave at half-time.
You’d think that a Spanish player would be higher in this year’s rankings, but by those standards, Spain was virtually without a world-leading star for 45 crucial minutes last night.
This was ultimately a triumph of teamwork and unity over individualism.
England had 13 players in the top 100 on that list, including some who were not included in Gareth Southgate’s 26-man squad for Euro 2024. England’s trump card going into the tournament was boasting arguably the best player in the world. Premier League (Phil Foden), Bundesliga (Harry Kane) and La Liga (Jude Bellingham).
It wasn’t that England lacked stars, they just lacked cohesion.
It’s hard to find a single overarching concept that England have done well in the seven games. Goalkeeper Jordan PickfordThe distribution of passes was often very direct, with no obvious pattern when England tried to attack from the back. The passing network in the final showed no co-ordination between the attacking players, and it also became clear that the most frequent passing combinations were to the centre-backs. John Stones He handed it back to Pickford.
In contrast, the Spanish one is a work of art.
As for pressing, a difficult concept in tournament football to be sure, England were noticeably passive, perhaps due in part to striker Kane’s lack of mobility. But pressing is also a question of organisation, and England’s approach was disjointed. There were few signs of good chemistry between the big players at the back, and no two players looked to be on the same wavelength. Bukayo Saka and Kyle Walker), there was no rotation, no one spread the play out to create space for others, and although England have been on the back foot for long periods in this tournament, it’s difficult to recall many instances of their attackers bursting into attack on the break as individually competent as they are.
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This was a team that simply relied on a moment of magic, like Bellingham’s bicycle kick that sent the game into overtime. SlovakiaSaka’s second-half equaliser Switzerland, Ollie Watkins‘ Then we won against the Netherlands, Cole PalmerHe scored the tying goal in the final. Also, the performance of the newcomers cannot be denied. Mark Guehi, Ezri Konsa, Kobe Mainu — stepped up and delivered a solid performance.
But it all just goes to show the quality of the individual players. As a team, England were average and lucky to even make it to the final.
Coming into the final, their biggest problem was applying pressure.
From the first minute, it looked like there was an intention to press high – from Spain’s first goal kick, England pushed up and tried to keep it tight – but was there actually a plan?
Spain pressed with six players – the back four and two central midfielders – while England pressed with five, leaving just one right-back. Dani Carvajal Free. Spain clearly have the ball out so they move it to that side of the pitch.
There are many ways to do it in England did it With five players pressuring here – say, Bellingham blocking the passing lanes to the right-back, or England moving laterally across the pitch with Saka trying to get at the central midfielder on the near side – you can tell there’s a plan there.
But England looked confused. By the time Carvajal got the ball, Luke Shaw Nervously looking over his shoulder, unsure whether to rush forward and apply pressure, Carvajal had plenty of time to send the ball forward…
…And this move Alvaro MorataHe went deep to get the ball and tried to pass it through. Ramin YamalWell, he would have been offside here anyway, but Spain had England beaten by just a minute.
It wasn’t a one-off. Ten minutes into the game, the same situation happened. Spain was coming from behind. Shaw wasn’t sure if he should jump. Bellingham seemed to be telling him he should.
Spain get the ball down that side, Bellingham is pressing but working individually, Shaw is too far from Carvajal and again it’s an easy out-ball.
Carvajal then had time to pick out a good long pass…
…But if Nico Williams If he had his head on this ball, he would flick it Fabian Ruiz He comes running from behind.
These issues were never fully resolved.
In the second half, Spain changed from their initial 4-3-3 to something closer to a 4-2-3-1, but England had the same problem when trying to apply semi-pressure in midfield. Here, Bellingham is seen gesturing towards Yamal, presumably telling Shaw to push him in, but we don’t know for sure.
As the ball is played to Shaw, you can just barely make out his outstretched arm pointing frantically. Again, it’s unclear what the organization is like.
But either way, Shaw, who excels in one-on-one situations, found himself caught in between. He wasn’t close enough to put pressure on Carvajal, but he played Yamal goalside and then rounded the corner, where the winger ran onto Carvajal’s clever outside pass.
Yamal dribbles in and passes the ball to Williams…
…Someone who finishes things smartly.
This pattern continued. Here, Robin Le Normand They get the ball into midfield, Yamal drifts inside, Carvajal overlaps, Bellingham is pointing to something, Shaw is too, but neither man is really in a position to stop either of them.
Yamal receives the ball and passes it behind him…
…and Morata had ample chances to make it 2-0.
Spain’s victory actually came from the other side.
And in the final minutes of a long tournament, England could be forgiven for not pressing hard here.
Still, the starting position of the offensive line suggests they were hoping for it. Aymeric Laporte For Lewis, it’s very simple: There’s no pressure on either player.
On the other side, a familiar scene was happening. Walker Dani Olmo Before I knew it, the slope Mark Cucurellawill run.
England were ahead. Walker was chasing a shadow and the ball whizzed around him. At this point it’s worth simply assessing the quality of the goal. Mikel Oyarzabal The Lynx send the ball to Cucurella to play…
… He then made a well-timed run into the box, received the return ball and scored.
England were not completely humiliated in the final, going into the half-time break without having conceded any clear-cut chances, coming back into the match with some players from the bench, defending set pieces well and having a great chance to level the score again from a corner kick in their own half in the second half.
But England played like underdogs, relying too much on long balls and chasing as individuals rather than pressing as a team.
It is instructive that they lost in the second half to a team that was forced to play without Rodri, who was named the tournament’s best player.
Spain as a whole were on a different level to England last night, and over the last month.
