55 years and counting
Heading into their last sixteen Euro 2020 match against Germany, England manager Gareth Southgate describes it as an historic opportunity.
He is keen for his players to write a new chapter into the England-Germany rivalry, with several of them too young to remember some previous key meetings. … "It's a great opportunity for this team to make some history and give people memories of England-Germany fixtures for the future, that are a little different to some of the ones they've been flooded with over the last few days which mean absolutely nothing to them because they weren't born." England are aiming to secure a first major tournament knockout-stage victory over Germany since 1966…
For those too young to remember—so that's pretty much everyone then—the reference to 1966 is England's win over Germany in the World Cup final at Wembley. I was two years old at the time; all of the winning England squad have since handed in their boots for final cleaning; and not only had none of the current players been born, I wouldn't surprised if even their parents hadn't. Yet, every time there's an England-Germany match, the pundits and the commentators in the English media bring up 1966, simply because that was the last time that England defeated Germany in a major tournament.
It's pathetic and cringeworthy, and it has been for years. I just wish they could move on and get over it. Past victories and defeats become increasingly irrelevant over time.
Not that I really care, but I'm beginning to think that it would be quite nice for England to win at Wembley tomorrow. That way, when discussing future England-Germany clashes, all those sad bastards in the media can hark back to something a little less like ancient history. But, on the other hand, while the English media goes pretty quiet after a defeat, presumably in an effort to forget about it, they're bloody insufferable in victory.
So, either way, it looks like a lose-lose situation for those of us who genuinely don't give a shit about twenty-two overpaid arseholes kicking a ball around a field.
England have come out of their 55-year-long doldrums. Which is nice. Kinda.
I suspect that while some things change, everything stays the same. Although I cannot trust the media pundits, there's at least a hope that they can choose a different occasion to obsess over in future. We shall see.
The scenes at the final whistle demonstrated just how important this win is for Southgate and England, digging deep and surviving periods of struggle to overcome old rivals who have so often got the better of them.
Phil McNulty, chief football writer at Wembley, BBC Sport
Different squads over the years, so different rivals. Not old rivals McNumpty, you cock. But it does beg the question that if he's the chief football writer for the BBC at Wembley, how many junior knuckleheads did they have there?
And how many BBC football writers does it take to change a lightbulb?
Corrigendum: On the death of Jimmy Greaves, who unbeknownst to me was a member of the 1966 England squad, but who didn't play in the final, I wondered on the wisdom of my declaring them all dead. And it appears that, of the squad members who actually played in the final, four of them are still among the living: Bobby Charlton; George Cohen; Roger Hunt; and Geoff Hurst. Having said that, I only recognise two of those names.
The shits I could give, but quite simply don't.