The final has arrived in Germany, as EURO 2024 comes to a close with ENGLAND vs SPAIN on Sunday.
Despite some underwhelming performances, Gareth Southgate has led the Three Lions to another deep run at a major tournament. They’ve made themselves hard to beat and built a platform for their outstanding individuals to win matches for them. Their opposition here have been the toast of the town in this competition, with slick attacking football played at ferocious pace, a direct and dangerous style that’s a long way away from the last great Spain team of 2008-2012. This one is daredevil and precocious, led by a flying trickster in Lamine Yamal who turns 17 years old tomorrow.
DAN BARDELL came by to preview this tournament a month ago, and the Sky Sports and TalkSPORT broadcaster makes his return to the show at the perfect time: his England are through to the final thanks to a decisive strike from Ollie Watkins of his beloved Aston Villa. He explains what all that feels like, and we both make the case that the aforementioned Gareth Southgate is one of England’s greatest ever managers:
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COPA FINALE
MetLife Stadium was a sauna, even by the standards of the North Jersey swamplands in July. The humidity settled on the home of the New York Jets and Giants like a quilt, and 80,000 football fans of a different variety tucked themselves in.
The Canadian Men’s National Soccer Team was in town for the Copa América semifinal, and before the match, a horde clad in red and maple leaves took over a sports bar in a mall just across the highway from the arena. They took down pints and pub fare, belted out “O, Canada,” and, in the case of what appeared to be the ringleader, literally screamed into a loudspeaker. The Canadian ultras sought to intimidate via sheer decibel level. They then conquered the pedestrian tunnel-bridge over Route 210 for a spell on their way to the stadium, but that was the last time they enjoyed any kind of numerical advantage. At the end of the tunnel, atop the vast concrete-and-asphalt landscape that ringed the stadium, it was a sea of blue and white.
The last remaining North American team had the misfortune of running into the world champions, Argentina, who’ve sailed through the Tournament of the Americas so far, even when sailing past Ecuador meant going to penalties. They have the calm assurance of a team that currently holds this trophy in addition to the World Cup. Lionel Scaloni’s team have more medals (3) than matches lost (2) in the last five years. Even in that penalty shootout, they had an air of been-there-done-that about them. The Albiceleste don’t much care where the game is played or who the opposition might be. They’ll usually get two more goals than you and be on their way.
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It helps when you’ve got an immortal in the ranks. I saw Lionel Messi at this same stadium once before, in 2017, when he represented Barcelona against Juventus in a preseason friendly. Even then people would rise up in the stands and cry, “Meeeessi, Meeeessi, Meeeessi,” whether he was on the ball or not. It was the same here, but the blue and white masses would also break out in hymns, songs of the greatness of Argentine football, some of which felt generations old, others written as they seized their place in the history books these last couple of years. They would raise their wrists in front of them and flick them outward, as if to release some of the searing passion they felt being there with the team. And when the goals flew so inevitably into the Canadian net, they celebrated with the same fervor as ever, rising and thriving in the heat. Glory, glory Argentina.
They will take some beating in Miami, where Messi will welcome Colombia to his new hometown for the Copa América final. Los Cafeteros have been the great entertainers in this competition, scoring 12 goals in five matches behind the renaissance wizardry of James Rodríguez. The quintessential #10 made his name in an international tournament a decade ago, taking a headed pass with his chest on the half-turn and swiveling to smash a vicious volley in off the crossbar from 25 yards.
He struck twice in that Round of 16 encounter at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil to orchestrate an audacious destruction of Uruguay, and it was the same opposition that Colombia saw off in the other semifinal this week. That was a Copa spectacular that truly had everything: an early goal, an early red card, a broken hero’s arc for Luís Suárez, and mayhem on the pitch and in the stands at the final whistle. It’s been a tough road for Rodríguez at club level since those glorious days 10 years ago, but at this tournament he’s shown once again that James in a mustard-yellow kit is a different proposition.
He served up his sixth assist of the tournament to dismantle Uruguay, and along the way he’s taken on a Messi-ish role of his own: head coach Néstor Lorenzo does not ask him to run the hard yards, only to wave his left boot and conjure the spells to win the game. Boy, that’s beginning to sound awfully familiar now, but come Sunday we may have a reminder of who’s the true sorcerer in the #10 shirt.
In truth, it won’t just come down to those two. Even in the smothering heat of East Rutherford in July, 36-year-old Ángel Di María scampered in behind to stretch the Canadians and get them scrambling, another timeless wonder whose time is running out. There will be ballers all over the place, technicians of the highest quality and athletes of explosive capacity. The Colombian fans have traveled in even greater force than the Argentines at this tournament, and who knows who might win the ticket war and paint the terraces yellow or blue and white. It’s all up for grabs now at Copa América.
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SATURDAY
CANADA vs URUGUAY
8pm ET, 1am BST
A third-place game isn’t everybody’s idea of must-see TV, but the Uruguayans are still smarting from that bitter and tempestuous semifinal defeat to Colombia and Jesse Marsch is seeking a mythical Signature Win as the newish manager of Canada.
This would be just that: his opposite number, Marcelo Bielsa, would have entered this tournament full in the knowledge that only victory would constitute success for La Celeste. Assuming they avoid any suspensions for the mess at the final whistle against Colombia, Uruguay have a vast cast of brawny technicians who could prove too much for the Canadians.
SUNDAY
SPAIN vs ENGLAND
3pm ET, 8pm BST
The tournament’s great entertainers against the star-studded strugglers who might just be kicking into some form. For the full preview, check out the chat with Dan above!
ARGENTINA vs COLOMBIA
8pm ET, 1am BST
Messi and James, and two formidable fanbases. This is the final that the people’s tournament deserves, with maestros and bruisers all over the pitch. What a Sunday to be a fan of this game.⚽︎