History backs Spain to lift the title, as they have three European championships under their belt. In reply, the Three Lions have none in the trophy cabinet…reports Asian Lite News
After an enticing two weeks of football, where European giants squared off in highly engaging matches, Spain and England were left at last on the battlefield to fight for the coveted UEFA Euro Cup.
Spain have been tipped as the favourite to lift the title. Under the reign of head coach Luis de la Fuente, Spain produced an eye-catching spectacle for the fans with their tiki-taka style of football during the passage play.
The Spanish side has shown fluency in their attack, with their creative forwards giving a tough time to the opposition. Youngsters Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams have offered plenty of creativity on both flanks.
They have had the freedom to express themselves on the back of a strong defensive unit. Robin Le Normand and Aymeric Laporte hold the defensive line, and Rodri dropping in to provide additional cover have allowed Spain to put on strong defensive performances.
Spain’s strong attack display has allowed them to rack up 13 goals effortlessly from a whopping 108 attempts en route to the final.
The Three Lions have had their fair share of struggles in front of goal. Despite their vast pool of talent, England have mustered up only five goals before the semi-finals.
They produced their best performance in the tournament against the Netherlands in the final four. England dominated the possession with 59 per cent and racked up nine shots with five on target. In comparison, the Dutch side could only muster up only two shots on target.
History backs Spain to lift the title, as they have three European championships under their belt. In reply, the Three Lions have none in the trophy cabinet.
While history backs Spain, England will have the sheer desire to lift their first title since 1966. Under head coach Gareth Southgate, the Three Lions have roared strongly but failed to deliver when things matter the most.
In the last edition of the Euro, they marched into the final, but Italy played spoilsport on their soil, Wembley Stadium, London.
In the Qatar World Cup 2022, England almost pipped France in the quarter-final, but Olivier Giroud’s late strike knocked them out of the tournament.
They will be looking to change their fortune this time around and end the wait for their much-awaited title.
England have relied on late goals to sneak past Slovakia, Switzerland and the Netherlands to reach a second consecutive Euros final.
However, they needed extra-time to beat Slovakia and went all the way to penalties against the Swiss in the quarter-finals.
Southgate has also expressed his concern at having a day less to recover from their semi-final.
For all the resilience England have shown, chasing the game against Spain is a different beast.
The Spanish racked up 500 passes in the semi-final win over France to play out the second half by holding onto their 2-1 lead.
With some of England’s top players already showing signs of fatigue, a fast start is needed to dent Spanish confidence.
Spain’s pressing game has been one of the keys to their success in Germany. No side has forced more turnovers within 40 metres of the opposition goal, two of which have led to goals.
One of England’s problems early in the tournament was failing to take risks in passing forward, even against perceived weaker opposition.
In Berlin they have to be brave to get through the first wave of Spanish pressure and into the spaces where they can do damage going forward. Feed Foden and BellinghamSouthgate has stuck by starting both Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden all tournament despite both starring in the same role for their clubs last season as advanced midfielders.
The England boss finally got some reward in the semi-final with the Dutch, against a more offensive-minded side, Foden and Bellingham found the space to spark a laboured attack into life.
Foden’s Manchester City teammate Rodri has looked supreme all tournament in the Spanish midfield. But with Fabian Ruiz and Dani Olmo pushing forward, Rodri is the sole holding midfielder which should leave gaps for Bellingham and Foden to exploit if given the service.
Despite Spain’s much greater pedigree in winning major tournaments, it is England who have the edge in big game experience. Eight of Southgate’s squad played in the defeat on penalties to Italy at the Euro 2020 final and England also boast seven Champions League winners to Spain’s six.
“Quarter-finals, semi-finals, we’ve managed a lot of those games now,” said Southgate on learning from the final three years ago. “You’re definitely much better prepared because every experience you go through, you learn from. You’re improving all the time.”
England must lean on that knowhow to get over the line, even if it does mean resorting to the dark arts. Germany took a roughhouse approach to stopping Spain’s two wing starlets Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams in the quarter-final and it largely worked.
Few in England will care about how the job is done as long as they are parading the trophy around central London on Monday. Ollie Watkins’ stoppage time strike to beat the Netherlands in the semi-final rewarded Southgate’s bold call to send on the Aston Villa striker for Harry Kane 10 minutes from time.
Too often during this tournament and his tenure in charge, Southgate has been too slow to turn to his bench to influence the game.
In both the 2018 World Cup semi-final against Croatia and Euro 2020 final, England squandered an early lead by slowly losing control of the game.
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