Ringside view by Tushar Bhaduri: Doing just enough a virtue in tournaments

England were merely seconds away from an inglorious ouster at the hands of humble Slovakia, but here they are — in the final of the European football championship. Had it not been for Jude Bellingham’s last-gasp audacious overhead kick in injury time, a fresh round of recrimination and post-mortem would have started, with manager Gareth Southgate’s position becoming untenable. But at Euro 2024, England seemed to have made a habit of engineering escape acts.

Bukayo Saka smashed home a long-range equalizer in the 80th minute of the quarterfinal against Switzerland, while they also had to come from behind in the semi-final against The Netherlands, Ollie Watkins netting the winner in the 90th minute. It proves that whatever may be their shortcomings on the technical or tactical side of things, England are not lacking in spirit and attitude. Lack of form or rhythm doesn’t come in the way of fighting till the final whistle. If captain and star striker Harry Kane has been struggling, there have been other avenues for goals.

Doing just enough is a good quality to have in tournament football. But England, in its first major championship final away from home, will do well not to get too far behind in the final against Spain, the best team in the tournament so far. After wins over Italy, Germany, and France, their pedigree can’t be questioned despite several youngsters in their line-up. In fact, these rookies — if they could be called so — are the reason Spain have an all-win record going into the title clash, without having to go to a penalty shootout. A record of seven goals in six games shows that finding the net hasn’t been too easy for England. In comparison, Spain have scored 13, none of which are from the penalty spot, with as many as nine players getting on the sheet. Lamine Yamal, just turning 17, has shown that he can go on to be one of the leading lights of the game in years to come. 

His equalising goal in the semi-final against France will be talked about for years to come. Nico Williams has been a phenomenon on the wing, while Dani Olmo has scored in every knockout round so far, confirming himself as a player for the big occasion. In the form of Rodri and Alvaro Morata, they are not short of experience. Real Madrid stalwart Dani Carvajal is likely to be back in defence after suspension, along with Aymeric Laporte, Robin Le Normand, and Marc Cucurella. Coach Luis de la Fuente has options like Ferran Tores, Mikel Merino, and Fabian Ruiz on the bench if he needs to change things up. 

A large base

Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid are the three big guns in Spanish club football, but the number of players in the national squad from outside the ‘Big 3’ attests to the depth of talent they have. First-choice goalkeeper Unai Simon plies his trade at Athletic Bilbao and there are a whole host of players in the squad from less-celebrated clubs like Real Sociedad and RB Leipzig.

Aston Villa striker Watkins’s goal took England into the final and there’s a sizable Crystal Palace contingent in the squad, but when it comes to his first-choice starting XI, Southgate has largely trusted players from bigger clubs. Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford plays for Everton, but otherwise, the first XI is largely made up of players from Manchester City, Manchester United, and Arsenal, apart from Bayern Munich’s Kane and Real’s Bellingham. The ploy to have Kieran Trippier in defence hasn’t quite worked, so Palace’s Marc Guehi may get the nod for the final. 

The likes of Ezri Konsa, Conor Gallagher, Cole Palmer, Ivan Toney, and Eberechi Eze are options but are often brought into action as a last resort. The final could be decided by how well England deal with the wing-play of Yamal and Williams. Saka will look to use the flanks for England. The battle in midfield between Declan Rice-Luke Shaw-Kobbie Mainoo and Rodri-Ruiz-Olmo would be crucial to the outcome. 

And then there is the big-match expertise of Bellingham who, despite recently turning 21, has made a habit of making decisive interventions in the biggest of matches, be it for club or country.

High-quality fare

Midway through the tournament, there was much talk about matches at Euro 2024 being ‘boring’ without much exciting, goalmouth action. It was compared unfavourably to the Copa America taking place across the Atlantic. Even though most of the matches haven’t been high-scoring, the tactical and technical battles, often one-on-one contests have been a fascinating watch. Games don’t need to have a tennis scoreline to generate interest. The fact remains that the overall level of European football is ridiculously high.

When the top teams face off in knockout rounds, there’s very little to choose between them. The Spain-Germany quarterfinal was one of the best matches in recent times, even though the final score was ‘just’ 2-1. The overall quality on display at the Copa certainly isn’t comparable as the general level on sides there isn’t that high. That’s what may have prompted Kylian Mbappe to argue that winning the Euros is tougher than winning the World Cup. Even the so-called smaller teams have been quite hard to break down. A goals-per-match figure of 2.28 is nothing fancy, but when the best teams in the world face off with so much at stake, it would be quite unrealistic to expect goal-fests. As it is, most of the best players in the sport were coming off bruising seasons for their clubs and may have been a bit jaded. It may explain that no player has scored more than three goals in the tournament.

But that has been compensated by the emergence of some breakthrough stars, headlined by Yamal and Williams. Germany’s Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz have also caught the eye, while Turkey’s Arda Guler, all of 19, is already a Real Madrid player. Xavi Simons, one of the key players for The Netherlands, turns out for Paris Saint-Germain and is one to look out for. Switzerland’s Ruben Vargas has also impressed. As far as defenders are concerned, France’s Jules Kounde contributed to one of the meanest backlines in the tournament. The 25-year-old was pretty adept at bombing down the flank and putting in crosses as well. Whichever team comes out on top in the final will have the satisfaction of beating a field of the highest quality.