England: Second Final Euphoria And First Euro Title Dream

England dream of winning their first Euro title in 2024 (Instagram/@england).

JAKARTA - England manager Gareth Southgate is proud of the victory that led his team to qualify for the Euro 2024 final. Not only that, he is also enthusiastic about winning at the Euros throughout the history of the Three Lions participation.

If England manages to win in the final round, it will end the wait to lift the Euro trophy for 56 years or 60 years since they first participated (Euro 1964 did not pass the qualification).

Since qualifying for the 1968 edition for the first time, the Three Lions have never won a Euro trophy at all. Their best achievement is runners-up at Euro 2020.

This means that the Euro 2024 final is England's second consecutive final match. This year, they advanced to the final after overthrowing the Netherlands.

In the semifinals which took place at Signal Iduna Park Stadium on Thursday, July 11, 2024, early morning WIB, the Three Lions won with a final score of 2-1.

England were actually left behind by De Oranje's troops who opened the scoring in the seventh minute through Xavi Simons' goal. Then Gareth Southgate's men chased and led to a 2-1 win through Harry Kane's penalty goals and target Watkins.

Watching how his team struggled to make a comeback, Southgate acknowledged that his students' performance against the Netherlands was a firm answer to criticism directed at him.

He is also optimistic that this result will be the beginning of the opening of the way to be able to win in the final round later.

"We all want to be loved, don't we? When you do something for your country and you are a proud British, when all you read is criticism, it's difficult," Southgate told a news conference after the game.

"To be able to celebrate the second final is a very, very special thing. We've given people some amazing nights, some of the best nights in 50 years," Southgate said.

Southgate, who has been trusted to handle England since 2016, has brought his squad to the quarter-finals in the last four major tournaments, the only European team to achieve this feat.

So far England have only lost to Italy on penalties in the Euro 2020 final. However, they currently have a chance to perform better against Spain in the Euro 2024 final in Berlin, Monday, July 15, 2024, early morning WIB.

England has ambitions to end its long-standing title fasting. Throughout participation at the Euros, the performance of the Three Lions has never promised as a big team and a winning candidate.

From the first time participating, there were 15 editions of the Euros before 2024. England did not qualify for five editions (1964, 1972, 1976, 1984, and 2008).

The other four editions only reached the group stage (1980, 1988, 1992, and 2000). England then stopped once in the last 16 (2016), stumbled twice in the quarter-finals (2004 and 2012), one time in third place (1968), one semifinalist (1996), and one runner-up (2020).

Now, Southgate and its troops want to win the first Euro title in their history in the 17th or 16th edition of their participation.