It’s the night before the European Championship final and at the Olympiastadion two worlds are colliding. Outside the security cordon a delegation of suits and some obvious muscle are discussing provisions for the arrival of a dignitary, described euphemistically as “a member of the FA board” (ie its president, Prince William). Twenty yards away, meanwhile, stands a removal van plastered in massive pictures of Kieran Trippier and the message “Bury boys on Tour”. It contains seven lads who are scoping out the arena but also bemoaning the fact they slept in the van the night before: “It stank like anything in the morning.”
Everybody wants to be in Berlin for the game – be they Prince, punter, or prime minister. After a hectic first week in office which featured transatlantic diplomacy at the Nato summit in Washington, Keir Starmer will begin week two watching England’s men’s team play for glory as they take on Spain in their first ever overseas final.
Starmer has written a letter to manager Gareth Southgate and the England squad ahead of the match “on behalf of the whole nation”. While he assures the team “you don’t need a running commentary from a politician” on their progress through the tournament, he gives an assessment on what they have achieved to this point.
“You should all be proud… and I hope you can take some strength from the millions at home kicking every ball alongside you,” he writes. “You’re here not because of luck, but because of your graft and hard work. You’ve earned it. As you did three years ago, you’ve made the country proud. Whatever happens, you should know that you have united the country, and we are all behind you.”
In the heart of the German capital the crowds are now beginning to gather, with every flight from England full and every hotel enjoying a prolonged spell of surge pricing. For some of the travelling support it’s been a much longer and more expensive journey, with England’s tournament beginning some 28 days ago now (indeed some will have even longer memories, of North Macedonia away in qualifying perhaps, a far cry from Lamine Yamal, Rodri and the metropolitan delights of Berlin).
At the Brandenburg Tor, which will be turned into an enormous public viewing site for the match, five friends from Middlesbrough are reflecting on their journey. Joe Robertson, who boasts an enormous bruise on his right thigh from the “limbs” that went on in the stands after Ollie Watkins’s winner against the Netherlands in midweek, says the semi-final was the “best day of our lives” and a “biblical” experience. It was perhaps enhanced by the fact that one latecomer to their group had left his work on a North Sea oil rig on the Tuesday morning, caught a helicopter through a storm, driven across England, flown to Germany, blagged a lift from Dusseldorf to the gate of the stadium and arrived just before the heavens opened at kick-off.
“When we played in the group stages we were playing with fear,” says Robertson, 26. “That Jude Bellingham goal was probably the best we’ve ever scored, but celebrating it felt more like relief than pure joy. But when you get to the semis, no one can say you’ve flopped and the celebrations were biblical at the Dutch game. Gareth Southgate has built a team that other countries fear and I don’t think you could ever say that about England before in my lifetime. I’m nervous about the final, but I do think Spain can be got at.”
Southgate will have all 26 players fit to choose from in the final, with the main selection question still lingering over the left side of defence where Trippier has started every match, despite being right-footed, as the previous first choice Luke Shaw continues his recovery from injury. On Friday night Southgate posted a WhatsApp message to the England support thanking them for their “unbelievable commitment”. With the sound of birdsong in the background he said “I hope we’ve been able to give you some special nights and some amazing memories”, before ending with a typically Gareth peroration. “We’ve obviously got one more big one to come,” he said, “so bring the noise and we look forward to seeing you on Sunday.”
