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For many an England player, winning a major final against Spain and scoring in it would represent a perfect day this weekend. For a couple, it has already happened. Not in a senior European Championships either but a World Cup, albeit at Under-17 level.
Phil Foden got the third and fifth goals, sandwiching a strike by Marc Guehi in a 5-2 win in 2017. “Very good memories,” said the centre-back, studying the footage seven years on. “We were playing against a really good team in Spain.”
As England came from 2-0 down in Kolkata and Gareth Southgate’s team now have conceded first in each of the last 16, the quarter-final and the semi-final before eventually prevailing, the similarities may yet continue. “I remember coming down the tunnel and we had scored just before half-time [through Rhian Brewster] and their heads went down,” Guehi recalled. “I think it was just a moment for us to be vocal and to say, ‘we’ve got this. It’s not going to happen again.’ It just showed the resilience of the team at the time to overcome such a tough moment for us.”
The parallels with the past may also be savoured by Conor Gallagher, a substitute that day and, in all probability again on Sunday when England face Spain in Berlin. “It was an amazing memory for all those involved: myself, Phil, Conor,” added Guehi.
And if their progress to full international level may suggest an inevitability, the subsequent fates of Brewster, who failed to score last season, Joel Latibeaudiere, now at Coventry, and Steven Sessegnon, now of League One Wigan, illustrates otherwise. Guehi remains close to all three; a bond was cemented with silverware. “Hopefully it is the same here,” he said. If so, lessons from teenage days will have stood him in good stead.
“Being used to tournament football, being away from the family, having had that experience when I was so young has helped not getting too homesick because you are used to it,” underlined Guehi. But his laidback character probably helps, too. It has been apparent in his assured defending in Euro 2024.
So, too, in his reaction to the suspension that could have ended his tournament; either if England went out or if Ezri Konsa, who excelled in the quarter-final against Switzerland, had kept his place. “I didn’t actually know I was suspended until the lads told me after the Slovakia game,” he admitted.
That capacity for calmness is apparent in his chilled attitude towards what will probably forever remain the biggest game of his life. “I have not been thinking too far ahead, I know it is just around the corner,” he said. “But I’m just enjoying the ride.”
So he is not contemplating the rewards of victory; either the physical prize or the enhanced status. He has not pictured himself lifting the trophy, though if England prevail, he will be passed it, in the line along from Harry Kane. It isn’t about the prospect of the medal. “I’ll give it to mum and dad, they’ll take care of it,” he said. “It’s more the memories.” His parents may be compiling quite a collection.
Guehi has already given them silver and gold; he was also a runner-up in the Under-17 European Championship. “I don’t know where they are. Mum and Dad have them,” he said. But if he has a sense of perspective, knowing what matters is not just the piece of metal he may have around his neck in Berlin’s Olympiastadion, victory would turn an admittedly highly-rated player for a mid-table Premier League club, in Crystal Palace, into a national hero.
England’s centre-backs when they won the 1966 World Cup were Bobby Moore and Jack Charlton, iconic figures both. Guehi’s personal journey may give him more in common with players such as Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst, late arrivals into Sir Alf Ramsey’s first-choice team.
In Guehi’s case, he owed his promotion to Harry Maguire’s ill-timed injury. “Harry was playing as a massive factor in me doing well,” he said. Maguire represents part of the Southgate story, a constant in an era of achievement when England became regulars in the latter stages of competitions. Maguire was named in the team of the tournament in Euro 2020; he buried his penalty in the final shootout against Italy.
England nevertheless lost it. “I was watching at home,” Guehi said. “Just devastated like every single person, to come so close. It was a tough feeling, I know these boys, every single one of them, but for the country as well and it could be a moment of redemption.”
And redemption for England would be a repeat of sorts for Guehi if he can see off Spain again.
