There are many hopes placed in a golden generation that shines in the best European clubs, but marked by decades of disappointments and unfulfilled promises.
In July 2021, the whole of England believed they were ending a long wait without a trophy, which dated back to the 1996 World Cup on home soil. The scenario was a dream: a final at Wembley against an Italy team that had left more doubts than certainties throughout the tournament.
But the title, decided on penalties, slipped out of the hands of the ‘Three Lions’ national team again, who just 20 months later were then eliminated in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup by France.
Since then, a lot has changed: in 2024, Phil Foden became the first Englishman since 2016 to be named Premier League player of the year, Jude Bellingham was one of Real Madrid’s stars in the Champions League and Harry Kane shone in his first year away from Tottenham, albeit without victories.
The 30-year-old Bayern Munich striker will captain the Three Lions in Germany, in a tournament where only final victory seems an acceptable result for both players and fans.
Attacking potential at your fingertips
In Bavaria, and despite Munich’s poor year, Kane proved he is capable of shining away from London, scoring 44 goals in 45 games, while in Madrid Bellingham took little time to justify his move and thrilled the fans of Real Madrid with 23 goals in 42 appearances.
In England, all the spotlight has been on ‘Citizen’ youth product Foden, already indispensable in Manchester City’s eleven and scorer of 27 goals this season in all competitions.
But it wasn’t just the Mancunian who shone in his home country: Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice were two of Arsenal’s best arguments to fight for the title until the final matchday, while Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez were very important for Liverpool.
All of them are at the disposal of the always questionable Gareth Southgate, on the bench since November 2016, who has in his hands, perhaps for the last time, a squad full of talent and goals, despite leaving out big names like James Maddison and Jack Grealish in his latest call-up.
An accessible group
The first step on England’s journey will be Group C, which on paper seems rather easy: only Denmark should put the English in difficulty, who concluded the EURO qualifiers unbeaten (6 wins, 2 draws) and have conceded only 4 goals in 8 games, even though they lost last night in a friendly against Iceland.
The “Three Lions” will debut on June 16 against Serbia at the Veltis Arena in Gelsenkirchen. The crucial match against the Scandinavians will follow, before the last group clash against Slovenia, the weakest team in the group.
However, in such a short tournament, every mistake is costly and, despite comfortably qualifying, England have won just one of their four friendlies in 2024, a warning not to lower the intensity.
In Germany, this golden generation has the chance to engrave its name on the trophy to go from promise to certainty and risk falling into the rust of oblivion.
