England are dreaming of Euro 2020 glory after finally slaying old nemesis Germany in the knockout stages of a major tournament and now have a favourable draw against Ukraine in the quarter-finals.A 2-0 win over the four-time world champions at a raucous Wembley — thanks to late goals from Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane — rewarded England manager Gareth Southgate’s measured approach, which had been criticised for being overly cautious in the group phase.Southgate knows only too well what the consequences of failure are for England against Germany in a major tournament on home soil. His distinguished playing career was forever dogged by a miss in the penalty shootout at Euro 96 that sent the Germans to the final. Twenty-five years on, England are still waiting for their first major tournament win since 1966, when they beat Germany in the World Cup final, but are at least now consistent contenders.#OnThisDay 26th June 1996There was more penalty agony at the hands of the Germans for England as they missed out on the final of Euro ‘96. After a 1-1 draw, Gareth Southgate saw his spot-kick saved as Germany prevailed in the semi-final at Wembley. pic.twitter.com/Oyh336q3e8— Football Memories (@FootballOnThis1) June 26, 2021 The Three Lions reached the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the inaugural Nations League. And only a major shock in Rome on Saturday will deny them a last-four spot once more. Southgate’s style on the sidelines in Russia caused a spike in demand for waistcoats back home but on the field he has shown himself to be a pragmatist, willing to put his neck on the line with unpopular decisions – including switching to a 3-4-3 formation to match up with Germany’s wing-backs.”You know that if you change the shape, you pick certain personnel instead of others and, if it goes wrong, you’re dead.” That meant Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford and Mason Mount all started the game sitting on the bench. Blessed with England’s best array of attacking talent in decades, Southgate has instead focused on building solid foundations. The results are clear to see after they started a tournament with four consecutive clean sheets for the first time since 1966.Humanly beautiful this. As a player, Gareth Southgate missed penalty in Euro 96 semi-final shoot-out loss to Germany. Today, as manager, he led England to first Tournament win against their rivals since 1966. Many doubt his tactics but his empathy is elite pic.twitter.com/VXqXoxEyxY— roger bennett (@rogbennett) June 29, 2021 Former Liverpool and England defender Jamie Carragher praised Southgate ih his column for the Telegraph.”Not for the first time in the last three weeks, sticking to his beliefs and gut instincts has been rewarded. It has been a long time since England had such a single-minded leader who is prepared to thrive or fail on his own terms.”Southgate’s loaded bench also means England have the weapons to decide games as fatigue sets in. Grealish was the game-changer after his introduction 20 minutes from time with a part in both goals, but the manager’s faith in Sterling and Kane was also rewarded. After a poor end to the season with Manchester City, there were calls for Sterling to be dropped before the tournament began.The curse has been lifted – England send Germany home and proceed to the EURO 2020 quarter-finalsHowever, with three of his country’s four goals, the 26-year-old has finally delivered at a major tournament. Kane already has a World Cup Golden Boot to his name but had barely looked like scoring in the opening three games of Euro 2020. The England skipper’s time finally came four minutes from the end when he nodded home Grealish’s cross to send the home crowd wild.If England see off a limited Ukraine side hampered by injuries on Saturday they will be back at Wembley for the semi-finals, with the permitted capacity extended to 60,000 as coronavirus restrictions are eased. A quarter of a century after it was supposed to, football may be finally coming home for Southgate and England.© Agence France-Presse
