No fairytale, Gareth Southgate. But no dream come true either.
On a cruel night here in Berlin, it happened again, England beaten in a European Championship final for the second time in three years.
For a moment after Cole Palmer had become the latest substitute to deliver a star turn by levelling at 1-1, you really believed, in all the talk of fate, of illogic against reason, and sensed this summer of comebacks was to live on. “England ’til I die”, they sang. And somehow this lot never do.
But at the last, four minutes from time with 30 extra in sight, Mikel Oyarzabal delivered a taste of England’s own, Spain, the tournament’s best team, champions of Europe for the fourth time.
They were the right winners, the continent’s standout side, and had this finished at 1-0, the winning goal would have been apt, made and scored by the pair of young wingers in Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams whose rawness has been the thrill of the summer, a fine antidote to an increasingly sterile club game.
But how defeat felt brutal, even this England, these late specialists, hit with almost no time to strike back, their window for salvation slammed shut when Marc Guehi’s header for 2-2 was cleared off the line.
Among all the scenarios mulled over in Berlin’s beer halls and bars last night, the most feared, most underwhelming and perhaps even the most likely, on the summer’s evidence, was that England might simply be blown away, never throw a punch. In the end, that would have been kinder.
Spain were better, particularly in a blistering 15-minute spell after half-time, but not untouchably so. A fit Harry Kane, rather than this sluggish imitation withdrawn on the hour, might well have bridged the gap.
How do this group and this manager come back from this? How do you go again, having done so once before, only to stumble at the same final stage?
Those are the questions Southgate will ask himself in the coming days, but the World Cup in 2026 suddenly feels a long way away.
Southgate has earned the right to decide his future beyond the end of this tournament, which at its outset looked certain to be his last. The mood has shifted slightly in recent days, but here surely took a lurch back. He has looked tired and agitated in the face of heavy criticism over the past month.
Will the rekindling of romance in the last week be enough to convince him this quest is worth a fifth crack?
If the feeling in the immediate aftermath of the shootout loss to Italy at Euro 2020 was one of defiance that it need not be the end, then there felt a finality of something as Oyarzabal’s poke hit the net.
This remains a young England squad, but after four tournaments under Southgate, they ought to have been ripe. It was Spain came into this contest as the innocent upstarts, a team who, despite the confident swagger with which they have played this summer, are ahead of schedule, their achievement just in reaching this final far in excess of what was expected at the start.
There are old heads among the group, like Alvaro Morata and Dani Carvajal, but when the injured Pedri lead the cabal of (in one case, literal) children out for a survey before kick-off, they might easily have been a group of disinterested exchange students ambling through an art gallery tour.
For every reason to believe England’s experience might be their superpower, there was another to think it might just hold them back. When you’re trying not to think about history or the enormity of the prize, it cannot help when the bloke who lifted the trophy in your stadium comes strolling out of the tunnel with it still in his hands, grinning as if in three years since, he might never have put it down. Giorgio Chellini's welcome was predictably frosty.
Southgate had called on his players to be fearless, and his inherent cautiousness could certainly not be blamed here. If anything, not moving to re-solidify an open attacking team sooner after Palmer’s leveller was the key mistake. Kieran Trippier and Conor Gallagher were both stripped and ready, but too late, as the winner went in.
Earlier, Southgate had been bold even before dragging Kane as soon as he dared, bringing Luke Shaw, without a start in 148 days, in to face the darts and dribbles of Yamal, who turned 17 on Saturday and here overtook Pele’s record as the youngest man - boy - to start a major final.
To Shaw, after so long out, it might have felt like being whacked with the bleep test, a physics exam and a lead role in the nativity on the first day back at school. The Manchester United defender, though, started well, giving up nothing as England allowed Spain plenty of sideways possession but nothing of note on Jordan Pickford’s goal. John Stones, in particular, was outstanding.
If Southgate was just about the cliched happier manager at the start of half-time then by the end of it he was clear: Rodri injured blocking a Kane shot and off, Spain’s kingpin gone.
As everyone stared in shock at the door ajar and the empty throne, though, the underlings ran amok, Yamal away from Shaw for the first time and squaring for Williams to score.
And then, for a spell, England, really, were lucky to stay alive. Stones was booked, then cleared off the line. The usually mild Guehi lost it after a vital block on Morata. Dani Olmo slid wide.
What came first, the chants or the change, is up for debate, but Southgate and the English contingent were of one mind, Kane’s lethargic tournament over and Ollie Watkins, the substitute hero of Dortmund, sent on with a similar brief.
Except this England have rotated their moments wonderfully, with all the sophistication of a Diego Simeone front-six trying to dodge yellow cards, and so, of course, it was someone else’s go. Step forth Palmer, barely two minutes off the bench, steering low and in from Jude Bellingham’s lay-off.
Three times in a fortnight England had come from behind to win a knockout match, the same number as in their history before this summer began, and it looked on again.
This though, was Spain’s night, England’s destiny only for their wait to go on.
