A gripping Euro 2024 ended on Sunday with Spain crowned champions for a record fourth time, with goals from Nico Williams (47th minute) and Mikel Oyarzabal (86th minute) enough to defeat England, after Cole Palmer briefly pulled the Three Lions level with just over 15 minutes remaining.
With the confetti still settling on the pitch, ESPN’s writers at the ground and at home chime in with their immediate thoughts on Sunday’s remarkable final.
Spain get their just reward
Spain have won the European Championships for a record-breaking fourth time, edging one clear of Germany, and few would argue against them being the best team at the finals. They have scored the most goals, won all seven matches — only needing extra-time once — and played the best football throughout. (They are the only men’s team to win all seven games at a Euros.)
While pre-tournament favourites France and England were more reactive, preferring to sit deeper and hope for some magic from one of their star players, Spain played on the front foot and beat the best: holders Italy, hosts Germany, France and England. However, to win a tournament, you also need to dig in. They did that against Germany in Stuttgart, and in the second half against France in the semifinal Tuesday.
They also showed resilience, coming from behind against Georgia and France and reacting well to England equalising — even after losing midfielder Rodri to injury at half-time. That attitude was on display until the very last moments on Sunday, as Dani Olmo (who scored three goals at Euro 2024) headed Marc Guéhi’s goal-bound effort off the line in stoppage time.
It is an exciting time for La Roja, who have now won three of the past five Euros. This team is completely different than the side that won it in 2008 and 2012, though. Only Jesús Navas remains from the 2012 final, and he will retire from international football now. Instead, a new generation is coming through, led by wide men Nico Williams and 17-year-old sensation Lamine Yamal.
The 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico can’t come soon enough for them. — Sam Marsden
Spain’s subs make impact because of team approach, not name recognition
BERLIN — Looking at the substitutes’ benches for Spain and England, one thing was strikingly different. Not only did England manager Gareth Southgate have more name-brand options, but he had players who could change the face of his side. And that’s what they did when they came on. Ollie Watkins gave England more dynamism and verticality, Cole Palmer not only scored the equalizer, but allowed England to shift into a 4-1-4-1 formation, slotting in alongside Jude Bellingham and shifting Phil Foden out to the left flank.
Spain boss Luis de la Fuente, on the other hand, did not have the luxury of changes that would give Spain a different look. He made the enforced like-for-like substitution at half-time — Martín Zubimendi for Rodri in midfield after the Man City star took a knock — and then took off his center-forward, Álvaro Morata, for Mikel Oyarzabal. The latter’s day job is usually more as a winger, but he filled the No. 9 position in much the same way as Morata.
(The later subs — Ivan Toney for England, Nacho and Mikel Merino for Spain — were late-game fodder.)
Is it better to change system and personnel or keep your system and tweak the personnel, as needed? It’s a case-by-case situation, obviously, but in Spain’s case, having set up to take the game to the opposition from the first minute, the fact that de la Fuente did not have game-changers on his bench didn’t really hurt him. Southgate, by contrast, had to change system and approach when he made his subs. — Gab Marcotti
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Ogden: An elite coach would’ve won England Euro 2024
Mark Ogden joins “ESPN FC” to discuss England’s performance in the final at Euro 2024.
England find life after Kane
BERLIN — Harry Kane was substituted by Southgate after just an hour of the Euro 2024 final with his side trailing 1-0. That was a huge call by the England manager, but it was the right one. While Kane is England’s 66-goal all-time top scorer and he finished last season as the top scorer in the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich, he never looked fully fit during this tournament.
Kane will turn 31 later this month, so it would be foolish to write him off at this point. He still has time to recover his fitness and prove that he still has plenty of time left on the clock, but the change in England when Kane went off was remarkable. The pace and positional discipline of Watkins gave Bukayo Saka and Jude Bellingham more purpose in the sense that they could play different balls to the Aston Villa forward Watkins than to Kane, whose movement was minimal.
When Cole Palmer entered the fray, the Chelsea player added another new dimension to England’s play, scoring a stunning goal to round off great attacking play by Saka and Bellingham.
Spain ultimately found a way to win when Mikel Oyarzabal scored a late winner, but if England had changed it up sooner, they might have been able to win the game.
Don’t consign Kane to history just yet, but he can no longer regard himself as an automatic pick because England now have so many attacking options. — Mark Ogden
Will Southgate stick around?
BERLIN — Nobody will feel the pain of England’s wait for a major men’s trophy extending to 60 years more than Gareth Southgate, but will he have the hunger to go again at the 2026 World Cup?
ESPN reported earlier this week that the FA wanted Southgate to stay on beyond the end of his contract, which expires in December. However, the fan sentiment towards the 53-year-old during this tournament created what he described as an “absolute roller coaster,” witnessing his team being booed off twice during the group stage while beer cups were also thrown in his direction after drawing against Slovenia.
The criticism got more personal than ever before as a team brimming with attacking talent failed to excite, yet they still rallied in dramatic fashion to reach their first major final on foreign soil, impressing in a stunning late semifinal win over the Netherlands.
Southgate spoke emotively after that game about how “everybody wants to be loved, right?” and he will now gauge the reaction to England’s run in Germany before deciding on his future. Ultimately, he may not want the hassle. Critics of his conservative style will only be emboldened by the way they lost to Spain, as Southgate readily conceded territory to focus on defensive resilience and only opening up when they fell behind.
Southgate has created a positive culture and a tournament consistency unparalleled in England’s history. But they still have to take that final step. Whether Southgate feels he has enough support to have another crack at it remains to be seen. — James Olley
Spain’s wingers win the day
At the club level this season, Spain wingers Williams and Yamal combined for 14 goals and 23 assists in all competitions — excellent totals from players who were 22 and 16 years old, respectively, but paling in comparison to what we saw individually from England’s Foden (27 and 12, respectively) and Saka (20 and 13).
However, your system matters, and so does your attacking structure. At Euro 2024, Foden and Saka were given few opportunities to create danger, hamstrung by an attack centering around an out-of-gas Kane and only rarely fed the ball by a midfield that sacrificed passing ability for industry and defensive capability. Foden never seemed to have a good idea of what was required of him, either, drifting all over the pitch in search of an impact. In the end, Foden and Saka combined for one goal and zero assists from 14 chances created in 1,256 minutes of action.
Meanwhile, Williams and Lamal contributed three goals and five assists from 32 chances created in 1,001 minutes this summer. They were asked to provide width, make themselves available for long switches of play and move the ball into danger with their speed and one-on-one capabilities. They were brilliant at it. And fittingly, they combined for the first goal of the finals, with Yamal receiving a lovely ball from Dani Carvajal, quickly breaking toward the middle of the pitch and setting up a screamer of a goal from Williams.
Foden and Saka combined for one shot attempt and two chances created in the final; Williams and Yamal, meanwhile, did what they did all tournament: send Spain on its way to the title. — Bill Connelly
Palmer’s latest heroics not enough to save England
BERLIN — Palmer has absolutely nothing in common with Sylvain Wiltord, except the Premier League player tag, and now, they share the fact that both of them have scored as subs in a Euro final.
The Frenchman did it in 2000 as Les Bleus pulled off a miraculous win against Italy in Rotterdam, and the Englishman did it on Sunday in Berlin. After Palmer’s assist on the winning goal against the Netherlands in the semifinal, he was the one who briefly salvaged the game for the Three Lions as Southgate got his tactics wrong again.
Palmer, 22, has some momentum after an amazing, successful season at Chelsea (25 goals, 15 assists in 45 games in all competitions). He is fearless and plays with freedom, flair and guts. It’s all about technique for him. On Sunday, he had been on the pitch for 2 minutes, 23 seconds after replacing Kobbie Mainoo, when he hit the perfect inside-the-left-foot curler on the floor to beat Unai Simón.
Palmer arguably deserved to play more in this competition. He deserved to start this final, too, but he will still be remembered as the one who saved England once and almost twice.
Despite all his talent and a superb entrance — the only positive for England — he just couldn’t do it all himself. — Julien Laurens
Another word on Yamal
BERLIN — Yamal celebrated turning 17 on Saturday and became a European Champion on Sunday with his country. Injuries allowing, who knows what he could go on to achieve with Spain and Barcelona over the next decade?
At each stage of the tournament, it has been asked whether the pressure will finally get to him. Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann suggested they may try to rough him up — Yamal then would set up the opening goal. France midfielder Adrien Rabiot said Yamal needed to do more than he has done so far to make a final — Yamal then scored a goal to help dispatch the French in the semifinals.
England were careful not to hand him any extra motivation ahead of the final, but that didn’t work, either. After a quiet first half, he came alive in the second. His left foot has done so much damage in Germany — from that strike vs. France to assists against Croatia, Georgia and the hosts — and he was again the architect of the opening goal here. Cutting in, he passed the ball to Nico Williams, striding in from the right to open the scoring.
Yamal probably should have scored, too. Jordan Pickford twice denied him, once at 1-0 and later at 1-1, but it didn’t matter in the end, as Mikel Oyarzabal slid in a late winner.
Euro 2024 will be remembered as the breakout of Yamal. He had a tournament-high four assists — the record is five — and has taken the responsibility of an entire nation on his shoulders, all while breaking Pele’s record to become the youngest player to ever feature in a FIFA World Cup or UEFA European Championships final.
In short, he has earned a slice of cake. — Marsden
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