Aymeric Laporte into the excellent Fabian Ruiz who picks out the twinkle toes of Olmo. The RB Leipzig forward, with the outside of his right foot pings the ball into Mikel Oyarzabal. The substitute and now false 9 shoveled the ball out wide to the rampaging left-back, Marc Cucurella. Oyarzabal continued into the England box arriving at the near post before Marc Guehi, to slide home the winning goal from Cucurella’s first time cross.
This move was exquisite in construction, devastating in the speed of it and utterly brilliant at the end, a fitting description of what Luis de la Fuente’s La Roja have been at this Euro 2024. The first goal, tucked in emphatically with his weaker foot by Nico Williams was just as brilliantly constructed but that winner was like a painter signing off on his art with a flourish.
A Paolo Rossi third goal following a needlessly conceded corner-kick put an end to Brazil’s wonderful collection of artists at the Espana ’82 World Cup. Horst Hrubesch came on as a sub for West Germany to crash France out of the same World Cup in a pulsating semi-final match. The big man set-up Klaus Fischer’s acrobatic equaliser before scoring the winning penalty – the first shoot-out in the competition’s history.
A Brazil Vs France World Cup final would have been great for the history of the game. It did not happen. Pragmatic football took over from then on.
Going into the Sunday’s final, many pundits in England were quick to remind us that the best teams do not always win tournaments.
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In a world in which football and footballers are more interested in keeping possession which only serves to prevent the opponents from having the ball so won’t hurt you, the new European Champions were deliberate in their desire to get on the front foot. Their young wingers controlled passes on the half-turn so they can attack their full-back quickly and at speed. Not for them, the pass back to their full-back or infield to the defensive midfielder.
Speaking of midfielders, it has been a privilege and an honour to have watched Fabian Ruiz play at these Championships. The PSG man had it all. A throwback to when central midfielders were expected to tackle, run, pass forward and pop up to score the odd goal or two. He was so good that when Rodri – his senior sidekick – did not show up for the second half, business carried on. He really should have been the player of the tournament.
The 2-1 final scoreline flattered England. It is so like football that it took an Olmo goalline headed clearance to deny the Three Lions extra-time, something Gareth Southgate’s men had not merited.
When emotions have died down and England’s overall play is studied without bare statistics, what will be apparent would be that this was a team that nobody could actually tell what their identity was. One win in 90 minutes all tournament says a lot. In this final, Jordan Pickford’s heroics kept them in it before Cole Palmer’s caressed finish equaliser.
Yes, he has led England to back-to-back European Championships finals and a FIFA World Cup 4th place finish, yet one can’t shake off the feeling that in those two European Championships, England had the players to have played better and perhaps have won one of these finals.
De La Fuente knew he got out of jail in the Round of 16 match against the hosts Germany after he prematurely took off his young wingers. He never repeated it again.
It is to the benefit of football that Spain are European Champions. Yes, there are many ways to win in football. Yes, winning is what it is all about in the end. But, it should never be accepted that winning AND playing fluent fast attacking football are mutually exclusive. For this, De La Fuente deserves a lot of credit and our appreciation.
