This is your moment, Lions! When the Euros started I predicted we’d win – there are three signs I’ll be proved RIGHT
SO, here we are again.
Three years ago, I slumped out of Wembley Stadium sick to the pit of my stomach after England choked the last Euros final against Italy.
I say choked because we should have won it; we were the better team but played with far too much defensive timidity as the game wore on.
The penalty shoot-out that night was one of the most agonising things I’ve ever endured, with the possible exception of breaking five ribs and collapsing a lung after falling off a Segway in LA - or facing Australian fast bowler Brett Lee in a cricket net which turned into another rib-crunching nightmare.
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And my sick stomach turned out to be the least of my health problems as I also got infected with covid at the stadium, which led to long covid and seven months of no taste and smell.
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Losing a big football match is one thing, but losing my ability to enjoy fine wine was a catastrophe!
I therefore have very profound personal reasons for wanting a different result this time round.
But if that’s how I’m feeling, imagine what emotions the England players who lost that day are experiencing?
Actually, we don’t need to imagine.
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Declan Rice admitted: ‘Seeing Italy lift that trophy will haunt me forever.’
However, he added: ‘We know now what we have to do, compared to last time, in terms of how to control the game, not to sit back. We know how we can win this final which I think is a positive.’
Yes, it is.
As Frank Sinatra once said, the best revenge is massive success.
And I’m convinced the pain and torment of the way the last final ended will now drive us to triumph and joy.
One month ago, I wrote a Sun column right before the Euros began that predicted England could win because we have ‘pace, power, several genius ballers, a top goalkeeper, and a goal-scoring machine upfront.’
But I cautioned that we would only do it if manager Gareth Southgate found his bottle and ordered his men to attack, attack, attack.
Tomorrow night, I confidently predict that I’ll be proven right.
First, because after an explicably dull, plodding, snail-like first few matches of the tournament, we finally kicked into top gear against the Netherlands, especially in the first half.
Carpe diem, lads!
Second, because Safety-first Southgate has at last found his bottle, ripping the restrictive reins off his team, and making bold, daring, courageous late substitutions that led to a thrilling last-minute victory.
And third, because after 58 years of bloody hurt, this is surely our time again?
Yes, yes, I know Spain have played the best football in this year’s Euros.
And they have brilliant young players like 16-year-old Lamine Yamal, who Gary Lineker says is better than Pele and Messi at the same age.
And the record of Spanish teams in international and club finals is ridiculous, with 26 straight wins since 2002.
But this England team is man-for-man the best we’ve had since Bobby Moore’s 1966 World Cup winning heroes.
And they’re hitting their best collective form right when it matters, at the business end of the tournament.
They also, from Harry Kane to Jude Bellingham, have a steely glint in their eyes, fuelled by intense irritation at fully justified media criticism of their woeful early performances, that tells me coming second again simply isn’t an option.
That’s why I confidently expect England to meet the rampaging Spanish footballing Armada head-on and overwhelm them with a scintillating display of attacking flair and power.
To Gareth’s glory-hunters, I simply say this:
This is your moment.
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This is England’s moment.
Carpe diem, lads!
