It had been universally accepted that England needed a performance to reinvigorate their fans here in Germany after the toil of their opening Euro 2024 ties against Serbia and Denmark. Well, one of the principal takeaways from a claustrophobic and emotional night was that the fans were certainly connected.
Moved to boo at the interval after a flat display, they raised the intensity in the second period, belting out their songs for almost the duration of it. There was something faintly heroic about their efforts. They willed their team to make the breakthrough and yet it did not happen for a reason. Gareth Southgate’s team lacked the penetration and the quality where it mattered the most, despite dominating for pretty much the entire occasion in terms of possession and territory.
