Jude Bellingham (England) hugging Gareth Southgate, England manager, after the Semi Final of the UEFA European Championship between England and Netherlands at the BVB Stadion, Dortmund, in Dortmund, Germany England will have to be at their very best to challenge Spain in the Euro 2024 final on Sunday. Seen here: England’s Jude Bellingham hugging coach Gareth Southgate. Picture: MI News/NurPhoto/NurPhoto via AFP)
England began Euro 2024 as one of the pre-tournament favourites but now go into Sunday's final as underdogs as Spain have been the standout team at the tournament.
La Roja have made Euros history by winning all six of their games en route to Berlin, knocking out hosts Germany and France along the way.
AFP Sport looks at how England can raise their game to end a 58-year wait to win a major tournament.
England have relied on late goals to sneak past Slovakia, Switzerland and the Netherlands to reach a second consecutive Euros final.
However, they needed extra-time to beat Slovakia and went all the way to penalties against the Swiss in the quarter-finals.
Southgate has also expressed his concern at having a day less to recover from their semi-final.
For all the resilience England have shown, chasing the game against Spain is a different beast.
The Spanish racked up 500 passes in the semi-final win over France to play out the second half by holding onto their 2-1 lead.
With some of England's top players already showing signs of fatigue, a fast start is needed to dent Spanish confidence.
⚽️ Morata 🤝 Alcaraz 🎾
— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) July 13, 2024
Will Spain take home the #EURO2024 and @Wimbledon men's trophy? 🏆 pic.twitter.com/XJEzV5E9oh
Spain's pressing game has been one of the keys to their success in Germany.
No side has forced more turnovers within 40 metres of the opposition goal, two of which have led to goals.
One of England's problems early in the tournament was failing to take risks in passing forward, even against perceived weaker opposition.
In Berlin they have to be brave to get through the first wave of Spanish pressure and into the spaces where they can do damage going forward.
Southgate has stuck by starting both Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden all tournament despite both starring in the same role for their clubs last season as advanced midfielders.
The England boss finally got some reward in the semi-final with the Dutch, against a more offensive-minded side, Foden and Bellingham found the space to spark a laboured attack into life.
Foden's Manchester City teammate Rodri has looked supreme all tournament in the Spanish midfield.
But with Fabian Ruiz and Dani Olmo pushing forward, Rodri is the sole holding midfielder which should leave gaps for Bellingham and Foden to exploit if given the service.
😆#EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/5Jn5R5A4Wi
— UEFA EURO 2024 (@EURO2024) July 13, 2024
Despite Spain's much greater pedigree in winning major tournaments, it is England who have the edge in big game experience.
Eight of Southgate's squad played in the defeat on penalties to Italy at the Euro 2020 final and England also boast seven Champions League winners to Spain's six.
"Quarter-finals, semi-finals, we've managed a lot of those games now," said Southgate on learning from the final three years ago.
"You're definitely much better prepared because every experience you go through, you learn from. You're improving all the time.”
England must lean on that knowhow to get over the line, even if it does mean resorting to the dark arts.
Germany took a roughhouse approach to stopping Spain's two wing starlets Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams in the quarter-final and it largely worked.
Few in England will care about how the job is done as long as they are parading the trophy around central London on Monday.
Ollie Watkins' stoppage time strike to beat the Netherlands in the semi-final rewarded Southgate's bold call to send on the Aston Villa striker for Harry Kane 10 minutes from time.
Too often during this tournament and his tenure in charge, Southgate has been too slow to turn to his bench to influence the game.
In both the 2018 World Cup semi-final against Croatia and Euro 2020 final, England squandered an early lead by slowly losing control of the game.
Cole Palmer, Ivan Toney and Kobbie Mainoo have also made big impacts as substitutes earlier in the tournament.
Blessed with arguably the deepest squad at the Euros, Southgate must use it earlier than he has done so far, even if it means sacrificing one of his star names.
AFP