FEATURE: IS IT COMING HOME?

Photo credit: Getty Images

As the final minutes of extra time dwindled away at Wembley, an entire nation of football fans had their hands on their heads, biting their nails or else praying to the heavens for their side to hold out for a monumental victory.

The tension was unbearable.

Try telling that to the England players though, as they calmly knocked the ball about the park, even at this late stage still drawing their opponents out of position and always finding a team-mate in space.

It was a thoroughly professional defence of a lead from Gareth Southgate’s men, more reminiscent of ruthless Italian or German sides than the historically chaotic England teams of years gone by.

But then very little about this England side has been reminiscent of previous tournament failures.

Instead of a squad packed full of prima donnas who struggled to put club ties behind them, there is such a sense of unity amongst this group of players that one could conceivably believe they play together all year round, week in week out.

A lot of the credit for that has to go to manager Southgate who has become just the second manager in English football history to lead the country to a major final with last night’s 2-1 win over Denmark.

The former Middlesbrough boss had his doubters leading up to the tournament, and even as recently as the 0-0 draw with Scotland in the group stage, but he has proved everyone wrong with this extraordinary run of matches that sees the Three Lions into the Euro 2020 final.

He has of course been somewhat blessed with a nascent squad of talented young players, with the likes of Phil Foden, Jadon Sancho, Reece James and Jude Bellingham all representing Europe’s elite whilst still being under the age of 22.

However, he has got them playing in a way that former managers handling squad jam-packed with stars were unable to, a system built on strong defensive foundations and an ability to see games out.

Last night’s triumph will go down as his magnum opus (pending Sunday’s final versus Italy) as his side recovered from Mikkel Damsgaard’s stunning 30^th minute free-kick to emerge as victors.

After the Sampdoria starlet’s strike, it did for a few minutes seem like the England players had lost their grip on the game.

But just nine minutes later, Harry Kane’s exquisite pass unlocked the Danish defence and defender Simon Kjaer turned Bukayo Saka’s driven cross into his own net with Raheem Sterling lurking.

Thereafter, the Three Lions regained control and maintained it until that game of keep-ball in the closing stages of extra time, with Kane scoring the rebound after seeing his penalty saved to finally send England ahead.

After 55 years of waiting, England have made it to the final of a major tournament where they will face their toughest test of the lot; Roberto Mancini’s cold-blooded Italy.

But regardless of Sunday’s result, this band of players can hold their heads up high, knowing that they have made the whole nation proud and no longer scared to dream again.