The morning after semi-final night before, Gareth Southgate gathered his England players. He spoke about legacy, about representing the country, about winning respect. And then he got down to brass tacks.
You’ve got a choice, he told them. What colour medal do you want?
Southgate paused, as he told this story. He had seen all the goodwill messages telling him whatever happens from here, it has been a great tournament.
He has been made aware of the general feeling that he is a success as England manager, just for getting this far.
Ultimately, though, he cannot settle for praise and plaudits. A gold medal, a trophy, is the bottom line now.
Gareth Southgate is on the brink of making history as the manager of the England team
‘That in the end is what yesterday and today, and tomorrow, are all about,’ said Southgate.
‘I know it won’t be enough for me and the rest of the staff, and for the players, if we don’t win it now. You get messages that are lovely, whether we win or lose. But that won’t be how it will feel on Monday.’
He has been here before. The 2018 World Cup was also judged positively, even when England exited at the semi-final stage. It didn’t feel that way on the night, though. Southgate put it all in context later, saw the wider picture, the journey.
In the moment, though, England were within touching distance of a World Cup final and lost, again, in extra time. This is even closer, being at Wembley, with all the attendant euphoria.
Southgate is only too aware that the progress of the England team is, now more than ever, tied to the happiness of the nation. So this, in its way, is bigger, the stakes higher. He has more to lose this time.
Southgate is acutely aware that this moment is finely poised for England to strike for gold
It is hard to reach finals, even for the most successful nations. Germany have trod this path once in the European Championship since 1996. The last five finals have featured seven different teams; in the World Cup it is eight.
As good as England are, this is a moment to be seized. However proud Southgate may be of the cultural shift achieved on his watch, it cannot be paraded around Wembley or on an open-top bus.
For the Southgate story — the missed penalty in 1996 to becoming a national hero — to go full Hollywood, it needs the big finish. It needs more than a sympathetic pat on the back and a handshake before the credits roll.
‘I could see why people think of this as a film script or whatever, but it was strange the other night after the Denmark game,’ he said, ‘because once I’d finished embarrassing myself on the pitch, all I could think about was how we’ve got to get this right now.
‘I wasn’t pinching myself thinking, “We’re in the final”. We’ve got to get the game tactically right because although there is great pride in what we are doing, and people are speaking really nicely about us, the professional in me knows the tactical role has to be spot on.
‘We’re playing a team that hasn’t lost in 33 games. It’s no use being able to speak about areas of society, if we don’t get the tactical bit right, the selections right, if we don’t manage the players the right way, the house falls down. I know this is a lovely period in many ways, but what doesn’t change is getting Sunday right.’
Southgate rarely plans to be front and centre for England, does all he can to credit his players and his staff, but one win — or heaven forbid, a penalty shootout — away from England’s first major trophy since 1966, the manager is unavoidably part of that narrative.
The player who volunteered to take the sixth penalty against Germany in 1996 — because he thought it was the right thing to do, not because he greatly fancied his chances — and missed, now stands on the brink of the greatest triumph of English football’s modern age.
Southgate knows all about high pressures and failure after missing his penalty at Euro 1996
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