Euro 2020: England win over Germany could be healing half a century of hurt

One of the first hurdles was cleared when England ended a dire run of penalty shootouts by beating Colombia at the 2018 World Cup, but the ultimate test was put in front of them on Tuesday (June 29) – Germany. On paper England had nothing to fear.

It is 25 years since the Lightning Seeds sang of England’s ‘30 years of hurt’ but now, with the thorn that has caused the Three Lions the most pain finally removed with Tuesday’s 2-0 win over Germany, fans really can start dreaming. That song, the anthem of Euro 96, was thrown back in England’s faces when joyous German fans sang ‘Football’s coming home’ after beating the hosts on penalties in the semi-finals. That was just one of all too many tearful tournament exits at Germany’s hands. It began with the extra-time defeat in the 1970 World Cup quarter-finals, when holders England blew a 2-0 lead, and reached its zenith with 1990 World Cup semi-final penalty shoot-out agony. Euro 96, when current England manager Gareth Southgate missed the decisive penalty, kept the run going, and German tournament superiority was driven home by their 4-1 victory in the last 16 of the 2010 World Cup. As the years of hurt rolled over the half-century mark, Southgate worked overtime to clear his squad’s minds of the baggage that seemed to weigh so heavily on every previous generation, not least the ‘golden one’ of David Beckham, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard. One of the first hurdles was cleared when England ended a dire run of penalty shootouts by beating Colombia at the 2018 World Cup, but the ultimate test was put in front of them on Tuesday (June 29) – Germany. On paper England had nothing to fear. They had home advantage with most of the 40,000 Wembley crowd driving them on.