London, June 30

As the Wembley Stadium announcer roared the final score — “England 2, Germany 0” — Gareth Southgate’s vision was momentarily diverted from his victorious players to the big screen.

Shown beaming from the VIP seats, reveling in England’s passage to the European Championship quarterfinals on Tuesday, were David Beckham and Ed Sheeran. Prince William, wife Kate and seven-year-old Prince George were also there celebrating, as fans just like their subjects rather than royalty. But it was the sight of David Seaman that caught Southgate’s eyes and made him pause, to think back — in one of his greatest moments as England coach — to the pain of 25 years ago.

2nd ever win It was England’s second-ever win in the knockout stage of the European Championship. The last such triumph came on penalties against Spain at Euro ‘96

It was Southgate’s penalty miss at the old Wembley that denied an England side with Seaman in goal the chance to reach the Euro ‘96 final. “For the teammates who played with me, I can’t change that — so that’s always going to hurt,” Southgate said. “But what this group of players has been able to do is give a new generation a lot of happy memories and another afternoon where they have made a bit of history.”

England is finally unburdened by the weight of its agonising history against the Germans. This was a day more reminiscent, albeit with a long way to go in Euro 2020, of the 1966 World Cup final win over them on the same site.

4 Games England are yet to concede in their four games. Just like at the 1966 World Cup — and that ended well.

Not that it came easily. Just like in England’s two group wins, Raheem Sterling was on the scoresheet, breaking the tense deadlock in the 75th minute. But this time Harry Kane finally scored his first goal, easing the pressure on the 2018 World Cup Golden Boot winner’s shoulders.

“With all the expectations and pressure, we delivered,” Kane said. — AP

Germany’s loew hits another low

LONDON: Germany returned home today following their Euro 2020 last-16 defeat to England, with departing coach Joachim Loew at the centre of fierce criticism after another early tournament elimination. Loew, who had a contract to 2022 but following several bad results decided in March to leave after the Euros, should have gone much earlier, many people believe. “It is too early to analyse what worked and what didn’t,” Loew told a news conference on Wednesday, back at the squad’s Bavarian base. “Some things worked really well, some not. What I know in these four and a half weeks we invested everything we had. Going into detail now about what went wrong makes little sense for me. I take full responsibility for yesterday’s defeat and the early tournament exit.” Reuters

Lukaku faces familiar faces in Italy

MUNICH: Doubters over Italy’s chances of going all the way at Euro 2020 have pointed to their comfortable path to the quarterfinals, but that will all change on Friday, up against a Belgium side whose leading marksman knows the Italians all too well. Romelu Lukaku enjoyed one of the best seasons of his career in 2020-21, voted player of the year in Italy’s Serie A as the Belgium forward fired Inter Milan to their first top-flight title in 11 years. Next in his sights are club teammates and players used to trying to stop him on a weekly basis in Serie A as Belgium and Italy, who have won four out of four games each, go head to head in Munich in the last-eight. Italy are on a record unbeaten run of 31 matches, last losing back in September 2018 against Portugal. However, such a run has not convinced everyone, given Roberto Mancini’s side have beaten lower-ranked opposition in Switzerland, Turkey, Wales and Austria so far. With Lukaku in town, spearheading the attack for the world’s top-ranked team according to FIFA, Italy will have no such easy ride. “We know Lukaku well because we also face him in Serie A,” Italy and Napoli defender Giovanni Di Lorenzo said. Reuters