England's Harry Kane, center, and his teammates celebrate at the end of the Euro 2020 soccer championship semifinal match between England and Denmark on July 7, 2021. England won 2-1.Catherine Ivill/The Associated Press
Gareth Southgate is no stranger to the Italian Job, as the English tabloids are predictably labelling Sunday’s date with destiny.
But in the case of the England manager, it has less to do with Michael Caine and more to do with finding gainful employment following the lowest point of his career. After missing the decisive penalty against Germany in the Euro 96 semi-final, Southgate shilled for a well-known pizza company, appearing in a TV spot with a paper bag over his head alongside fellow England shootout scapegoats Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle, with the trio poking fun at their spot-kick shortcomings.
Having failed to end what was at the time a mere “30 years of hurt” – as the famous line of the popular Three Lions song goes – Southgate summed up the feelings of every England fan in that moment, with the team becoming something of a punchline in international soccer circles. And the need for the paper bag has hardly diminished in the intervening years.
Heartbreaking shootout losses to Argentina, Italy and Portugal – twice – followed, before the greatest ignominy of all – being bundled out of the last European Championship by an Iceland team coached by a dentist.
But with England now potentially 90 minutes away from a first major title since the 1966 World Cup, the England manager has had the enviable task of explaining to the two teenagers in his ranks – 18-year-old Jude Bellingham and 19-year-old Bukayo Saka – that it doesn’t usually work like this.
To be fair, the dispensation of such advice should be on the national school curriculum in England, right up there alongside Morris dancing and the art of conkers.
It would certainly have helped mitigate the unnecessary and cruel raising and dashing of a country’s hopes, such as in the 2002 World Cup quarter-final, when a goal from Ballon d’Or winner Michael Owen gave England an unexpected halftime lead against Brazil.
Predictably, the soon-to-be five-time world champion countered with goals from its own pair of Ballon d’Or winners, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho. And, despite playing against 10 men for more than half an hour following Ronaldinho’s sending-off, England was left to negotiate another early flight home from a far-flung destination.
It’s something of an understatement to say that England has often been its own worst enemy at times. For example, that listless exit raised many questions about the leadership of then-manager Sven-Goran Eriksson.
Southgate himself – an unused substitute in that Brazil game – remarked afterward of the halftime team talk given by the Swede: “We were expecting Winston Churchill and instead we got [former Conservative Party leader] Iain Duncan Smith.”
Rather than move in a different, fresh direction though, England decided to persist with Eriksson through another two major tournament cycles, where it predictably exited at the quarter-final stage on each occasion.
The halcyon days of last-eight appearances rapidly disappeared over the horizon shortly afterward though when Eriksson’s assistant, Steve McClaren (aka the Wally with the Brolly), couldn’t even qualify for Euro 2008 after his promotion to the top job.
On the bright side, the current incumbent seems to have learned a thing or two about the art of management, almost certainly as it pertains to what not to do. Southgate’s own style of leadership is attracting rave reviews from all corners of the country, with soccer analyst Gary Neville commenting that his former England teammate is “everything a leader should be.”
The man of the moment has even warranted mention in the British House of Commons, perhaps predictably given that his record of success against European counterparts has arguably eclipsed that of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
“For the sake of our country … I hope the Prime Minister can spend some time over the next few days studying at the Gareth Southgate school of leadership,” Labour MP Thangam Debbonaire said following England’s semi-final win over Denmark on Wednesday.
Ahead of Sunday’s final, the England manager is set to face his sternest test. Naturally, he will have his hands full countering an Italian team that has thrilled at times in casting aside its own stifling traditions of defence-first catenaccio. Much like Southgate, Italian manager Roberto Mancini has changed the narrative around a team that was at virtually its lowest ebb when he took over, having failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.
Like England, Italy is no stranger to heartbreak on the pitch, as everyone old enough to remember Roberto Baggio’s wayward penalty in the 1994 World Cup final or David Trezeguet’s Golden Goal to deny Italy in the Euro 2000 final can attest.
Now, riding an unbeaten streak of 33 games – just two off the world record of 35 – Italy stands as the only remaining hurdle separating England from its first European title.
But just as he failed to do when he stepped up to take a sudden-death spot kick at Wembley Stadium 25 years ago, Southgate will have to succeed despite the often overbearing weight of expectation of a country hungry for soccer success, of tabloid newspapers trumpeting “England Expects” and the constant reminders of far too many years of hurt.