A memorable Spanish double today with Alcaraz and the football team. And something of a parallel trajectory where both dominated their games, suffered a late setback and then showed resilience and regrouped to get the win.
That’s the first time a team has lost back to back Euros finals apparently. Gutted!
Great game, three pretty goals. Could have gone either way but Spain’s quickness in midfield gave them just enough of an edge.
Thrilling clearance by Olmo near the end of play.
It happened to Germany in the WC in 1982 and 1986. They came back strongly in 1990, if that’s a consolation.
Oh, yes, that almost gave me a heart attack! But both Spanish goals were a beauty, and we had some chances besides. Ufffff… exciting, and nice to watch.
And how Kane got as much time in this match before Watkins came on I will also never know.
Except Walker. He had a rough one, IMO. Another player who was selected more on name and reputation than form (although with White refusing to play there weren’t a ton off better options - maybe TAA?).
TAA definitely the choice of one of my friends, but he’s a Liverpool fan so slightly biased.
I know it’s sour grapes coming from an England fan and would likely have made no difference, but it was disappointing the full time whistle went at 94.06, when a Spanish player had spent nearly half the four added minutes rolling around on the floor for no reason. When I’m FIFA president, any stoppages within the added period will have double that time added on. To not account for it at all was poor by the referee. Some refs do this really well, it’s such a simple thing to get right. Not doing it just encourages this kind of gamesmanship from players and coaches.
I was shocked when he blew the whistle. There were actually two significant stoppages during the original 4 minutes, including Cuccurella acting like he’d been shot when his face brushed Saka’s arm (not even a free kick in my book). I was listening to a podcast about the game today and they said the ball was in play for a total of about 30 seconds during said 4 minutes. That being said… I doubt it would’ve made a difference. But it would have been nice to have had the chance. I guess our luck finally ran out.
It’s hard to argue with this summary.
Southgate has resigned. A good run by him as far as I’m concerned.
I’m sure a lot of USMNT speculation is about to start, but I can’t see him doing it.
I’m pleased as I don’t think he could take England any further plus he’s constructed a great foundation for a more tactically astute manager to build on.
Important now not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Well, there is always the Guardian’s David Squires take on football. He is so good:
Don’t get me wrong, this is laughter, not schadenfreude. 
I’d be very disappointed if the US hired him. I could see it as it’s ostensibly more ambitious than cherundolo, but also think it’d be a cop out vs really going for it.
I think Southgate did OK as manager but a lot of his success was down to luck.
For as long as I can remember most of the time Engalnd can beat medeocre teams most of the time but lose as soon as they face elite opposition in major tournaments. Usually that happens around the quarter final but in Southgate’s case: (I know FIFA rankings aren’t the be all and end all but they give a reasonable indication of a team quality)
2018 World Cup. Played and lost to Belgium in the group stage, finishing second opened u pthe knock-out stages and could have got to the final without beating an elite team, beat Columbia and Sweden before losing to Croatia in the Semi, Highest ranked team beated 16.
2020 Euros. Won their group with two wins and a draw beating Croatia ranked 6th in the world. In the knockout beat Germany, Ukraine and Denmark before losing to Italy. Germany were the highest ranked of the teams they beat in the KO stage but were very poor at this time (ranked 15)
2022 World cup. This felt like a traditions England World cup, won the group with 2 wins and a draw, beat Senegal but then met, and lost to, France in the Quarters. Highest ranked team they beat Senegal (18)
2024 Euros. Win the group with a win and 2 draws, beat Slovakia and Switzerland (on pens) before playing the Netherlands, I would say this was the first team England had beaten a top team in the finals of a major tournament (FIFA rank 7) and a great result though unable ot repeat the feat against Spain.
The Nations league is definately a lower priority, but Southgate did do fairly well in the 2018/9 tournament winning a group with Spain and Croatia (2 wins a draw and a loss) before losing to the Netherlands in the Semi. Things didn’t go as well in the 2020/1 tournament finishing 3rd in a group of 4 behind Belgium and Denmark. The 2022/3 tournament was a disaster with England failing to win any of their 6 matches against Italy, Hungary and Germany resulting in relegation to the B tier.
Southgate was a defender and the way the team has played under him has looked defensive, cagey and nervous.
…it has been a successful strategy though, although the games weren’t fun to watch. We managed to grind teams down and won the endurance battle.
So this is the issue with Southgate’s tenure. On paper, he’s had great results and we should all be begging him to come back. But, none of us started watching football solely to see a man (salt bae) hold up a trophy…we want to see flowing, attacking football.
He hasn’t even got a trophy, you can justify “ugly” football if you at least win trophies, if not…
With the ‘successes’ (or rather lack of) of England being rather few and far between, just getting to semis and finals has been deemed an achievement for a lot of England followers. Personally, although he has done better than all but one of his predecessors in terms of tournament progression, I have not enjoyed the football much at all. They could be so much more! But then we had that argument under Sven when he had Owen, Rooney, Lampard, Scholes, Gerrard, Ferdinand, Terry, Campbell, Beckham, Ashley Cole etc etc etc. Maybe we are just destined to never win anything ever again!
Those poor people…
Yeah, twenty eight years of nothing!
text for discourse