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England has only failed to qualify for two major tournaments in the last 30 years, but that doesn’t entirely paint the accurate picture of English football fans' yearning and the success they feel they’ve been starved of since their first and only World Cup in 1966.
If you keep up to date with English football fans and news outlets via social media, they’ve made no secret that they believe this current crop of talent is the best squad England has ever taken to a Euros, and for once, the sportsbooks seem to agree with them.
Euro fever is beginning to grip the key nations hopeful of glory in Germany this summer. Many companies are looking to cash in on this heightened interest in what will be the biggest summer of football since the last Euros in 2021.
Unlike back in the day when all sorts of companies would get in on the action, including video gaming companies who would often design specific games for the tournament, a lot of the action focuses online or on specific gaming modes in popular soccer games like EA Sports FC. Good online games often ride the crest of a popular theme or can find a solid niche and corner off some of the enormous market for themselves.
Many England players have sponsorships with some of the top gaming companies, and a big win this summer could see some of the star players featured on the cover of the next big soccer game. But they need to break their 58-year curse. Can Gareth Southgate be the manager who finally etches this England squad into the history books?
Weighing up the chances
These tournaments always have a few twists and turns. Only a few people thought Argentina would win the World Cup, with France and Brazil going into the competition as the main favorites. This year’s Euro sees England as the favorite for the competition despite their disastrous and alarming showing against Iceland in one of their warm-up fixtures.
However, using Argentina as an example again, it’s not about how you start the race but how you end it, proverbially speaking, of course. When Saudi Arabia beat Argentina in the World Cup group stages, it appeared that Lionel Messi’s dream to lift the World Cup was never going to happen - they dropped right down the pecking order - but we all know what happened in the end.
Without overthinking the Iceland game, England has one of the strongest squads in the world on paper. Superstars like Harry Kane, Phil Foden, and Jude Bellingham seem to have the right balance between scoring in the big games and performing when it truly matters.
The fact that a player with the quality of Jack Grealish finds himself left out of the provisional 26-man squad speaks volumes for the depth of talent in the England setup. However, games aren’t won on paper, and England will need to find a way to get past the mental blockade that has seen them come close over the last decade - reaching the World Cup semi-finals in 2018 and losing narrowly to Italy in the last Euros.
Barriers to overcome
England is very much the ‘nearly men’ of international football. Some fans and analysts attribute this to the immense pressure piled on the team via the media and fans, and others believe there is a genuine curse that the national team just can’t seem to shake. In any event, if you look at their chances objectively, they stand a better chance this summer than they have in many tournaments in years gone by.
Their “golden generation” of Scholes, Gerrard, Terry, Lampard, and Rooney couldn’t get their hands on a trophy - and given that other top national sides have superstars like Kylian Mbappe upfront, who nearly won the World Cup Final on his own - it would not be a shock to see England come up short yet again.
There’s growing criticism of Gareth Southgate as well, often chastised by the British media and English football fans for his persistent selection of players who aren’t performing well domestically and criticized for his inability to get the team over the line in crucial moments. You’d think if he failed again at Euro 2024, with this squad at his disposal, it would spell the end of his tenure as England boss.
Final say
Although England goes into this tournament as favorites, their worrying showing against Iceland and the strength of the French team will pose serious questions. One country that many people seem to be overlooking is the host nation - Germany.
The Germans are three-time champions, just behind England and France, according to the bookmakers. They have a long and decorated history of knocking England off their perch, even when their team has not looked as strong on paper.
Given that they’ll have the weight of their country behind them as the hosts, don’t be surprised to see them in the final or do a lot better than people think. England could also do it - but these tournaments rarely go according to plan.
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