Escalation into the European Championship final: England’s nuisances shake the Westfalenstadion

England is escalating, England is dreaming: After 58 years, the longing for a major international title is to be satisfied in the European Championship final against Spain on Sunday. And the Three Lions are going into this duel with the greatest possible emotions.

There is a joke about Gareth Southgate in England: As soon as the battery of his smartphone falls into the critical area of ​​99 percent charge, the team manager of the national football team switches directly to energy saving mode. Quite a few people on the island adapt this traditional panic about the communication blackout to Southgate’s plan for the Three Lions. The 53-year-old lets his players act with strictly measured force. It is terrible to watch. But often successful. On Wednesday evening, England will advance to the semi-finals of the European Football Championship. And everything will be different. The energy saving minister is playing the role of Gönnjamin.

England, which could still rub its eyes, rubbed its eyes. What had happened? To Southgate, to the Three Lions. The Netherlands had been defeated 2-1 (1-1) in Dortmund. But not in a ignoble, by-the-book manner, but at times uninhibited, with maximum escalation. In the 90th minute, substitute Ollie Watkins received the ball perfectly in the penalty area. With his back to the goal, the striker received it, turned and hammered the ball in. England were leading, the stands were shaking. Madness descended upon the Westfalenstadion, which is very familiar with shaking madness. An absurd loss of control by this billionaire crew of civil servants. After 58 years of pain and such great tragedies following the 1966 World Cup title, relief is suddenly so close.

Southgate gets emotional

“We’ve had some incredible nights over the last seven or eight years,” said a highly agitated Southgate. “The only reason I did this job was to try and help England to succeed as a nation.” Three years ago, at the last European Championships, in the legendary Wembley Stadium, he came so close to achieving his goal, losing to Italy on penalties in the final. “It makes me immensely proud now that I have reached a final abroad for the first time with England. But we came to the final to win.”

Watkins just kept running after his goal. And it didn’t matter where he would have run. The joy of salvation was suddenly everywhere. He finally found it in the arms of Harry Kane, the captain had made way for the striker. Once again, not much went right for the FC Bayern star, even if he was in slightly better form. But none of this matters for the long-awaited first title of his career. The substituted Kane had had little impact that evening. Everything about his game these days seems sluggish, not powerful, not as ice-cold as usual. At least he had brought his English team back into the game. After 18 minutes, he equalized confidently with a penalty. He himself had been fouled by Denzel Dumfries, and after VAR intervention, referee Felix Zwayer changed his mind. England celebrated, but the Dutch party took a big hit. Things were back on track. After just seven minutes, Xavi Simmons had scored spectacularly for the eleven, with a thunderous shot from distance.

“We made history. I am so proud of all the players and staff,” said captain Kane. “It has been such a difficult tournament for us. It was so hard to get to this final. But we are ready!”

They scream and just won’t stop

Kane caught Watkins. And the rest of the team, after all there was still extra time to go. And the Three Lions had shown themselves against Slovakia how well it can be used. So everyone got back into formation and played it home. Football is coming home! Kane coached, Bellingham won a free kick and no one in white in the stands noticed anything. Even as Turkey and Georgia were battling it out in the most spectacular exchange of blows of this European Championship tournament in the preliminary round, Dortmund experienced a fan escalation of rarely seen dimensions. The English now came very close to this gigantic noise level. The north stand, the part of the stadium that has been least shaken, was a sea of ​​white-bellied party animals. Don’t take me home, they screamed. And they just didn’t stop.

“There was a lot of criticism, but we are in the final and that’s all that matters,” said a completely agitated Watkins. “We have this comeback factor. When we fall behind, it seems to give us a boost.” Especially him, the Joker: “I swear on my children’s lives: I said to Cole Palmer: We’ll come in, I’ll score the goal and you’ll make the pass,” said Watkins. “It’s an incredible feeling.”

Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, who had slid through his own penalty area after the winning goal as if he were on an uncontrollable emotional trip, fell to the grass again before the game had even finished. The English rushed through the final minutes without knowing what was happening to them. Only General Bellingham kept an overview until Zwayer blew the final whistle. Their explosive history was at best a side note that evening. At the end anyway. The stadium director played “Sweet Caroline”, Watkins danced a solo in front of the “Nord”, his teammates provided the background group. And it burst out of Southgate. The emotion type “a peaceful fjord on a warm summer evening” became a seething volcano. The English, who could still rub their eyes, rubbed their eyes. The others just carried on singing. Don’t take me home!

What has the coach had to endure in the past weeks, months and years? As soon as a game was over, buckets of criticism were poured down on him. Comparable to the mighty Westphalian falls that crashed down from the stadium roof again on Wednesday evening and made an English fan a celebrated diver between the rows of seats. Southgate was mercilessly savaged by the approach to the protected spectacle. Sometimes the debates became so wild that the end result was that this team would rather fail with flying colors than be bored and win the title. A recent outgrowth: former English international players called the penalty against Kane a joke. As if they didn’t begrudge Southgate, their old companion who had become a tragic hero in the semi-final of the home European Championship against Germany in 1996, the title redemption. Under no circumstances.

England “is still on the pitch”

It’s not that far yet. On Sunday in Berlin, Spain will still be standing in the way of England. The team that has enchanted the continent in this tournament with child prodigy Lamine Yamal and wing sensation Nico Williams. There can be no greater contrasts. England’s football has annoyed so many people in this tournament, from experts to fans, that hardly anyone neutral would have wanted the Three Lions to be able to roar in Berlin. Their own football was about as terrible as their own view of Gelsenkirchen. The question is whether Gelsenkirchen stressed the fine English soul or whether their own football had penetrated the city even more with its sinfully expensive cruelty. Never mind. Gelsenkirchen said goodbye to the European Championship with much love and England “is still on the pitch”, as the fans sang in downtown Dortmund.

There were clashes at the public viewing. There had already been a fight in a pub in the afternoon. Otherwise, however, it was quiet, sorry, loud and peaceful. The Dutch moved towards the stadium like an endless dragon, jumping from left to right and singing songs whose meaning is not much to say. The English, who felt clearly outnumbered, held their own. And this time they had food to spur their heroes on. From the start, the lion was not on a leash. He broke free at the kick-off and remained a stray predator on the prowl for 45 minutes. Aggressive, clever, grueling. The first few minutes belonged to the Dutch, including the goal, but then the lion ruled. Kane bit (18th minute), Phil Foden almost (23rd minute). But his fine fumble in the penalty area was just stopped on the goal line. The Dutch headed Dumfries onto the crossbar (30th minute). Foden elegantly curled the ball from a long distance onto the outside post (33′). The game was enchanting, thrilling, robust, furious – it was wonderful.

The tempo dropped after the break. The Dutch got a better grip on Bellingham and Foden, who were desperately looking for big moments. The English control centre lost power. Declan Rice ran into all possible holes. Both suddenly seemed frightened by the exchange of blows in the first 45 minutes. England looked for control and depth, the Dutch for tempo. When they found that, it became dangerous. Or from set pieces. Pickford just managed to clear a shot from Virgil van Dijk off the line, Kyle Walker tackled a ball off Cody Gakpo’s foot at top speed and in dire need. The Netherlands were suddenly closer to scoring the winning goal. But they weren’t paying attention twice. Walker passed from the right into the centre and Bukayo Saka scored what appeared to be England’s 2-1 – the team of national coach Ronald Koeman was lucky that Walker was offside. But then Watkins came on and madness descended upon the Westfalenstadion. After 58 years of pain, relief is so close.