People celebrate in the Old Justice pub in London during the shootout of the quarterfinal match between England and Switzerland.Vadim Ghirda/The Associated Press
They’ll pack the pubs, jam the fan zones and say a prayer on Sunday that England‘s men’s team can finally win a major soccer tournament for the first time in nearly six decades.
The Three Lions advanced to the final of the European Championship for the second successive time on Wednesday by beating the Netherlands 2-1. Like the team’s play throughout the tournament, the win was far from assured and required a last-minute goal from substitute Ollie Watkins. On Sunday in Berlin they’ll face a dynamic Spanish team and its teenage sensation, Lamine Yamal, who turns 17 on Saturday.
Wednesday’s victory brought an outpouring of emotions – joy, relief, wonder – and a plea from the monarch for a little less drama on Sunday.
“If I may encourage you to secure victory before the need for any last-minute wonder-goals or another penalties drama, I am sure the stresses on the nation’s collective heart rate and blood pressure would be greatly alleviated,” King Charles III said in a statement.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, only days into the job after a stunning victory by the Labour Party in last week’s election, basked in the reflected glory during the NATO summit in Washington.
Starmer watched part of the game with the Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof. Just as it ended, Starmer rushed off for a face-to-face meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House. Biden ignored reporters’ questions about his own future but was happy to talk about England’s win. “Good news,” Biden said. “I’ll tell you what, it’s all because of the Prime Minister.”
To which Starmer quipped: “We have not lost a game under the Labour government in 2024.”
The new Prime Minister is also facing calls to declare a national holiday if England should win, which might even earn the support of people in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland whose teams either didn’t make the tournament or in the case of the Scots didn’t make it beyond the group stage.
“We should certainly mark the occasion, I don’t want to jinx it. I went to the last Euros final, I don’t want to go through that again,” Starmer said on Thursday, referring to the previous final, which England lost in a penalty shootout.
England's Harry Kane celebrates in the arms of teammate Ollie Watkins at the end of a semifinal match between the Netherlands and England at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Dortmund, Germany, on July 10.Martin Meissner/The Associated Press
For England’s manager, Gareth Southgate, there was more than a little vindication in reaching the final. His tactics have been questioned throughout the tournament and after one game a few angry fans pelted him with beer cups. Now he’s being hailed as a genius for his decision to replace England legend Harry Kane late in the match with the young upstart Watkins.
“We all want to be loved, right?” Southgate told reporters after the win. “When you are doing something for your country and you are a proud Englishman and when you don’t feel that back and get all the criticism it is hard.”
As for the fans back home, he added with a smile; “I hope they are enjoying a few beers.”
Southgate and many others connected with the team will also be hoping that Sunday’s game will help erase the ugliness from the final three years ago in London, when England lost on penalty shots to Italy. A trio of English players, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, who are all Black, faced a torrent of online abuse after they missed their shots.
Only Saka is back with the team and all eyes were on him last Saturday during the semi-final against Switzerland when the game went to a penalty shootout. Saka scored his shot with ease and England went on to win the shootout.
“I think for me, it’s something I embrace,” Saka said after that game. “You can fail once but you have a choice whether you put yourself in that position again and I’m a guy who is going to put myself in that position.”
David Olusoga, a professor of public history at the University of Manchester, said an England victory would be similar to when the team won the 1966 World Cup. “This is all about timing, it comes at the end of a moment of chaos and political discord in the country with a new government,” Olusoga told the BBC on Thursday.
He also credited Southgate for standing up to the racists who went after Saka and the others. “I think his leadership has been not just on the pitch, it’s been trying to build a new workable version of English identity.”
While England fans will be desperate to celebrate the men’s first major title since 1966, Spain is no stranger to championships. It has won the European title three times and at this tournament it defeated powerhouses France and Germany by the same 2-1 score in the semi-finals and quarter-finals, respectively.
Oddsmakers have the Spaniards as the clear favourites, but there’s still plenty of belief in England. This is how soccer great Roy Keane put it on Sky Sports: “I’d have Spain as favourites, but sometimes, things are written in the stars for this England team.”
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to clarify that England's men's team has not won a major soccer tournament in nearly six decades.