For Captain Harry Kane, this Euro Cup might be his last chance to bring England glory, and for Manager Gareth Southgate, his last chance at redemption.
It all comes down to this; Berlin’s Olympikstadion on July 14 will play host to a marquee final between Spain and England.
Spain will be playing for their fourth Euro title, and England will be looking to break a 57-year silverware drought to claim their first Euro Cup trophy. This is what the teams have at stake, but for the players and coaches that comprise them, much more is on the line.
Manager under fire
Gareth Southgate came into this tournament under lots of pressure from England fans for his lack of results despite having a team full of stars, who, for their respective club teams, all play much better than they had looked in recent years for the Three Lions.
The group stage form of the team only intensified the pressure Southgate was under, particularly for his inflexibility in the starting IX’s he would play, despite drawing to Denmark and Slovenia, and cynically sitting back in defence after going 1-0 up against a Serbia team they were heavily favoured against. Group play is always chaotic, and since then, while they have had nailbiters in each of their games until this point, the fact of the matter is that in the five major tournaments, he has led the team in, he has coached them to two Euro Cup finals and two semifinals, one of these semifinals runs in the World Cup.
The veteran’s first?
Harry Kane is another Englishman who has faced recent criticism for his lack of goal contributions to the team. The longtime Tottenham Hotspur, who recently moved to Bayern Munich last season, was stunned as it looked like his career-long silverware drought was coming to an end before a meteoric Bayer Leverkusen usurped the Bavarian giants, extending his drought. At 30 years old, father time is looming over his shoulder ever nearer, and this may be his last shot at lifting a trophy for his nation.
Despite this setback, Kane is tied for first place for this tournament’s Golden Boot award, given to the player with the most goals. He and Spain’s Dani Olmo, who he will be sharing the pitch with, are each tied at three goals apiece.
