At last, we meet again. As football rivalries go, England v France has been surprisingly empty. The men’s teams have met each other only twice in World Cup history (England won both) and last time out was in 1982, two days after the Falklands War ended. That sounds like — and is — a different age. As for the Euros, I think we can all agree not to mention 2004.
Instead, the teams we’re used to duking it out with on the pitch are by this point all too familiar. Following England has felt like watching an endless succession of games against Germany, Sweden and Argentina. But those rivalries (if one can have a rivalry with the herbivorous Swedes) feel exhausted and dormant. We finally beat the Germans at the last Euros, and now that they’ve gone out of the last two World Cups at the group stage, that formidable air of invincibility – and inevitability – they once had has evaporated. Likewise, with Argentina the footballing wounds — David Beckham getting sent off, that little Diego Maradona incident — have long since healed. We’ve moved on.
