Spain and England set for Euro 2024 final showdown
Lamine Yamal (R) with his Spain teammates at training in southern Germany on Saturday, before their departure for Berlin. PHOTO: AFP
England are hoping to end their long wait to win a men’s major international tournament when they take on an outstanding Spain team in the final of Euro 2024 on Sunday.
The match at the Olympiastadion in Berlin kicks off at 9:00 pm (1900 GMT) and will bring the curtain down on a month of football in which Spain -- featuring teenage sensation Lamine Yamal -- have been comfortably the most impressive side.
They have already eliminated several of the continent’s heavyweights while winning all six matches en route to the final as they aim to become European champions for a record fourth time, after 1964, 2008 and 2012.
England, meanwhile, have often struggled against lesser opposition but produced their best performance yet in beating the Netherlands in the semi-finals, when Ollie Watkins came off the bench to score and seal a 2-1 victory.
Now they are into their second consecutive European Championship final as they aim to banish the memory of their penalty shoot-out loss to Italy at Wembley in the deciding game of the last edition, three years ago.
If Gareth Southgate’s team can do that, England’s men will have a first title in 58 years, since the 1966 World Cup which they won on home soil.
“I’m not a believer in fairy tales but I am a believer in dreams,” Southgate said at his pre-match press conference on Saturday.
England have had several near misses in recent years -- they were semi-finalists at the 2018 World Cup before losing the Euro 2020 final and going out of the 2022 World Cup in the quarter-finals to France.
A team led by Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham arrived in Germany as one of the leading contenders but won just once, against Serbia, and scored only two goals in topping their group.
They then needed Bellingham to come to the rescue at the death against Slovakia in the last 16, in a tie they eventually won in extra time, before prevailing on penalties against Switzerland and edging out the Dutch.
Spain represent comfortably their biggest test yet, as the sides prepare to meet at a major tournament for the first time since Euro 96, when an England team featuring Southgate as a player won on penalties in the quarter-finals.
“Fate, the run that we’ve had, the late goals, the penalties, that doesn’t equate to it being our moment,” Southgate admitted.
“We have to make it happen tomorrow and perform at the level that we need to perform.”