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Gareth Southgate has transformed England’s fortunes at major tournaments but once again fell just short as a painful 2-1 defeat in the final of Euro 2024 extended a 58-year wait for glory. Prior to Southgate’s appointment eight years ago, the Three Lions had reached just three major tournament semi-finals and one final in their history, when they won the 1966 World Cup. In the last four tournaments, England have reached three semi-finals and two finals but were undone by familiar failings as Spain rounded off their sublime tournament with a fitting victory.

Southgate had hailed a new “modern England” after they dominated possession to beat the Netherlands in the semi-finals.

But they were reduced to chasing shadows by Spain’s metronomic midfield and cut open by wing wizards Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams in Berlin.

Questions now turn to whether Southgate, whose contract expires at the end of the year, will continue in his role for the 2026 World Cup.

He admitted that the stinging criticism that came his way earlier in the tournament — as fans threw beer cups at the England boss after a 0-0 draw with Slovenia — had taken its toll.

But he is also aware that this is far from the end of the road for this generation of English players.

Cole Palmer, 22, capped his breakout season by scoring his first competitive international goal in the final.

Jude Bellingham turned 21 during the tournament, while Bukayo Saka (22) Phil Foden (24) and Declan Rice (26) will all still be in their prime in two years’ time.

“Without a doubt, England have got some fabulous young players and even the young ones now have got a lot of experience of tournaments,” said Southgate.

“Many of this squad are going to be around in two, four, six, eight years’ time.

“We have now been consistently back in the matches that matter, so it’s the last step that we haven’t been able to do.”

Yet, despite his record of going deep in tournaments, doubts remain whether Southgate is the best man to be in charge of such a richly-talented group of players.

England’s luck runs out

Hyped as one of the pre-tournament favourites, England coughed and spluttered their way towards the final thanks to a series of late goals and isolated moments of individual brilliance.

Bellingham’s overhead kick prevented an embarrassing last 16 exit to Slovakia, Saka saved the day against Switzerland before England advanced in a penalty shoot-out, and Ollie Watkins came off the bench late on to defeat the Dutch.

Palmer looked like he might dig Southgate out of a hole once more by curling in a brilliant equaliser against the run of play.

But England’s luck ran out in Berlin as this time they conceded late to Mikel Oyarzabal.

Southgate bemoaned his side’s lack of control and physical issues with many of his major players out on their feet.

He has to take his share of the blame though for relying so heavily on the same core of players all tournament despite having arguably the deepest squad in the tournament.

Eight England players started all seven games, while Southgate did not turn to his bench until they were trailing against Slovakia, Switzerland and Spain.

That followed a pattern as England threw away dream starts to lose to Croatia in the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup and Italy in the Euro 2020 final.

Southgate was unable to turn the tide as Luka Modric wrestled control for Croatia six years ago and Jorginho dominated the midfield for Italy in the previous Euros final.

This time Spain took the ball straight away with over 80 percent possession in the first 10 minutes and did not relent, even after player-of-the-tournament Rodri was forced off injured at half-time.

“Ultimately we lost to the better side and we have to reflect on how that happened but it is very clear in my mind,” added Southgate.

“For me the key was position of the ball and we didn’t have enough control.”

Southgate said he will take time to ponder his future.

But as England head home, football does not as the wait for international glory goes on.

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. We look at how England can raise their game to end a 58-year wait to win a major tournament, and beat three-time Euros champions Spain in the final.

Strike early

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.

Beat the press

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.

Feed Foden and BellinghamSouthgate 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.

Harness experience

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.

Use the bench

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.

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