Finally, it’s a match made in heaven for Gareth
MANAGER’S MASTER PLAN EASES 25 YEARS OF PAIN
MAYBE only victory by penalty shoot-out would have tasted sweeter for Gareth Southgate.
The England manager is too much of a gentleman to indulge in any public schadenfreude but just a small part of him must have felt a tug of satisfaction at a German side meeting their Waterloo at Wembley against his side. Southgate’s penalty miss against the same opposition at Euro 96 is a life sentence from which he will never be freed. But a new page was written in the England-Germany rivalry yesterday.
As he applauded Wembley from the centre of the pitch, a part of Southgate must have been healed.
The ovation he received as he appeared on the big screen maybe represented some sort of quiet closure. The emotion that poured down from the stands after a match of cloying tension and boundless relief was mirrored in the embraces Southgate shared with his players and staff.
They will have known in those clinches how much this win meant to him as well as a grateful nation 25 years on.
“I was looking at the big screen and I saw David Seaman up there,” Southgate said. “For the teammates that played with me, I can’t change that. That is always going to hurt.
“But what is lovely is we’ve given people another day to remember and now we’ve got to go and do it in Rome.” His master plan worked to a tee. It was cautious, with a fiveman defence and two holding midfielders, but it was crafty too. Set up to contain, Germany were unable to launch their wing-backs. They were restricted to just one good chance in either half but neither Timo Werner – not so surprisingly – nor Thomas Muller – very surprisingly – could put them away.
Four games in, England have yet to give anything away at these Euros. They have still to concede a goal. As a former defender, Southgate will be overjoyed at that. If they were clunky at times with the ball again, he will not care too much. Two goals doubled their tally. He timed the introduction of Jack Grealish to perfection as a tiring German defence was unpicked. Southgate’s conservative selection had put his own neck on the block and it still seems a waste of riches not to have seen Phil Foden or Mason Mount, but it is hard to argue with the methods that took down England’s greatest foes.
The cast list was as good off the field as on it. There was royalty in the shape of David Beckham, left; the Duke of Cambridge and Prince George were here too.
England’s personal busker Ed Sheeran was also in the house, as well as David Baddiel and Frank Skinner. They were joining in as Three Lions was belted out during the final few minutes.
With their side 2-0 up, the England fans wanted the game to end but in the same breath they didn’t. Moments like these don’t come around too often and the joy of cheering German misses as England’s beaten nemesis chased the lost cause was total. The place was less than half full but even with only 43,000 inside it was rocking.
Southgate paced out the final few minutes inside his technical area.
The noise was raucous but must have sounded heavenly. Each defensive header was greeted with a violent roar, each tackle won sounded like a goal.
Then came the final whistle, a double punch of the air and a look upwards towards the grey London skies.
Someone, this time, was looking down on him from above.