Three Lions reach the final against Italy.

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Six games into Euro 2020, we’ve finally seen what happens when England wakes up. The results haven’t been good, but they may not need to be for this England team.

Before Wednesday’s semi-final against Denmark, only Finland and Hungary had fewer shots in 90 minutes than England. Turkey doubled the goal in their three group stage defeats than England did in their four victories and one draw so far. Despite putting Ukraine four times in their quarter-final victory, only three teams that qualified from the group stage (Croatia, Wales and Austria) scored fewer goals than England. Meanwhile, ahead of the semi-finals, only the two offensive juggernauts are Spain and Italy that outperform Denmark. The Danes had more than doubled England’s total shots as of Wednesday.

The trends did not last. England’s talent supremacy resulted in the Danes being awarded just six shots, a first for the under-10 team in all tournaments. England accounted for 20 shots, the first time they had had more than 10 in all tournaments. By scoring the first goal in Mikel Damsgaard’s beautiful free kick in the 30th minute, Denmark succeeded in shaking England out of the complacency and disgusting “Void Ball”.

DAMSGAARD ​​for Denmark!

Scored his first free kick goal at Euro 2020 😱 pic.twitter.com/mnB3IcmFKl

– ESPN FC (ESPNFC) July 7, 2021

Raheem Sterling – the potential player of the tournament if England win the final – has always looked dangerous when catching Denmark’s Andreas Christensen one-on-one. Denmark’s inability to deal with striker Harry Kane, who falls deep between the defense and midfield lines and plays passes behind it led to England’s equalizer. Kane found winger Bukayo Saka behind the Danish lines, and Denmark captain Simon Kjaer blocked Saka’s cross to score his 11th goal in the tournament.

Goooooooooal from England! 🔥

What a pass Harry Kane had until Kjaer accidentally closed the clamp and sent it down his arc. 🥺 #ENG 1-1 #DEN #EuroTUDN I #VeranoDeCampeones I #EURO2020

🔴 Live! TUDN and @univision https://t.co/gTSSO2lIjs pic.twitter.com/ysIM4zr67C

– TUDN USA (@TUDNUSA) July 7, 2021

But although there were multiple options for penetrating the Danish defense, the English produced few disappointing final product after the goal. While the team may have been world-class at managing the game and eliminating opposing threats, going forward proved the Ukraine match was an aberration. The vast majority of England’s shots were low-performance efforts from distance or headers from set-pieces that Danish goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel handled with relative ease. Even when you try, England’s attack somehow falls short of the sum of its talented members.

Manager Gareth Southgate has made it clear that his priority is control. He made only one substitution during the first 90 minutes, despite the 1-1 score and visibly tired Denmark team to do so. With their attack unsuccessful, England instead chased a contact like Trae Young down the lane, looking for calls on their turf that would rescue her and turn the game into a steady duel. Perhaps the team should have been awarded a penalty for fouling Kane in the latter half of the second half, but the brigade of internet judges was almost unanimous that Sterling’s penalty in the first period of overtime was just too generous. . Schmeichel had about 1.5 seconds of “Ball Don’t Lie” satisfaction when he saved Kane’s first attempt, but the rebound bounced back to the England player, who didn’t miss Mulligan.

It might really be homecoming 😱

Kane criticizes his home after a penalty kick was saved! pic.twitter.com/msiI9kyMcF

– ESPN FC (ESPNFC) July 7, 2021

Denmark did not seem able to score in the last 45 minutes of the match and should probably have sent Schmeichel as an extra goal for the corner they won five minutes before the end of overtime. You won’t get a better chance than that.

If they want to dominate the final, England may have to push themselves out of their comfort zone for more than just a few stretches at a time.

Score 2-1 held. Now England have achieved their first major tournament final since 1966, which alone may justify Southgate’s means. He has kept his team playing at a consistently high level, even if the way to do so prevents his players from reaching the limit. This proved difficult for experienced international coaches during Euro 2020. Of the nine teams the odds-makers chose most likely to win the tournament before it even started – England, Belgium, France, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Netherlands, Italy and Croatia – six entered the tournament with the same manager they brought to the Cup World 2018. Spain expelled Julen Lopetegui, days before the start of the tournament in Russia, for accepting the training of Real Madrid. Both Holland and Italy failed to qualify, and they obviously made changes.

The vast majority of these leaders disappointed. Longtime Germany head coach Joachim Loew entered the eurozone as a lame duck after failing to stem the decline that saw his side exit the 2018 World Cup in the group stages, but knowing this would be his last international tournament with Germany was not. Inspiring his team to win one to pick up. France coach Didier Deschamps’ experience in existential football – where only an individual can give meaning to his presence on the pitch and therefore team cohesion was unnecessary – produced amazing points but also a lot of anxiety. Portuguese Fernando Santos managed to turn his team into a machine that produced goals for Cristiano Ronaldo but few positive results, so it is up to the federation and the fans to decide which of these was the primary target.

Inseparable from the curse of the World Cup winners who fail to make their way out of the group stages in the upcoming tournament, is the fact that the vast majority of those teams have brought back the coach who won them the title. Revenue tends to wane – unless you’re a 15-year veteran of Oscar Tabarez’s Uruguayan side, but even his team has been disappointed in this year’s Copa America quarter-final exit.

By contrast, three of the Euro 2020 semi-finalists were led by new managers. Luis Enrique took charge of Spain after the World Cup and the Lopetegui drama, and helped facilitate a new generation of players to join the squad. Roberto Mancini, the legendary Italian manager, took the helm of Italy and led them through their much-publicized cultural transformation. Danish coach Kasper Hjolmand was supposed to take over after Euro 2020 last year, but when the tournament was postponed, he came anyway and inspired his side to the semi-finals even after star Christian Eriksen’s heartbreaking opening match.

Among the veterans, only Southgate – and possibly Croatian Zlatko Dalic, whose aging team gave his aging side a good scare for Spain in the Round of 16 – met expectations. No matter what happens in the final, he will almost certainly be England’s coach at the 2022 World Cup. Other countries will likely see fresh blood. Former Bayern coach Hansi Flick to coach the German national team in August. (Löw has denied rumors of his retirement and appears to be heading towards a new career in a new city.) Deschamps’ future is uncertain after France’s disappointing exit, although if he is fired, it seems every rumor mill on the planet has upended the French legend and former Real Madrid coach. Zinedine Zidane makes his way to the center. Belgium’s Roberto Martinez got the vote of confidence, and one would imagine Belgium would still be good enough against smaller teams to prevent them from being disqualified before 2022.

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Italy beat Spain on penalties Tuesday, but it also looked bleak for the first time in all tournaments. Spain likely dominated play anyway, but losing prolific left-back Leonardo Spinazzola stifled Italy’s attacks. Much of Italy’s attack still flowed through Lorenzo Insigne on the left, but reserve defender Emerson Palmieri was unable to replicate the frictionless Spinazzola and Insigne exchanges that wreaked havoc throughout the Euro.

Even without half of its better weapon, Italy would be the most formidable opponent England have faced so far in the tournament. If they want to dominate the final, England may have to push themselves out of their comfort zone for more than just a few stretches at a time. Otherwise, Italy could take the match by the scruff and keep England constantly falling back. And even if this is Italy with a new look, the match against Spain showed that you may still be unwilling to turn any match with the Italians into a satirical competition for coaching referees. The look of the final is likely to be determined by who feels most comfortable pushing the throttle. Odds are it won’t be Southgate. Will the vacuum be enough to contain the renewed Italians?

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