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The England team deserved to win. England didn’t.
Why losing the final was the best possible outcome.
On Sunday night 25 million viewers settled in to watch the final of the European Cup. In it was a young, passionate England team who had shown strength, courage, respect and integrity throughout the tournament. They had reached the final of a major tournament for the first time in 55 years. The players hailed from all corners of England and had been as busy off the pitch as on, acknowledging the influence of their families, their teachers and early mentors, expressing gratitude for the positions they had earned through determination and hard work. Their manager, Gareth Southgate, a model of quiet respect and dignity, had forged a team that not only excited the country and gave them hope, but one that kids and adults alike could look up to, aspire to and be inspired by. They had won their group, they had beaten England’s old football nemesis, Germany in a knock-out match for the first time since 1966. These boys deserved the win and the nation was behind them all the way.
Except they weren’t. Not all of them. Not really. In pubs, bars and living rooms across the scourge of racism was quietly waiting for an outlet. And then it came.
It started as soon as Saka’s penalty was saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma, the giant of an Italian…
