So here we are, the 30th and final day of the European Championships in Germany, and the day when either Spain, or England, will leave with the trophy.
Lamine Yamal is more a goal provider than a goalscorer
The 17-year old (as of yesterday) wunderkind’s blistering goal for Spain in their semi-final against France may have been one of the defining moments of this tournament so far, but focusing on this to the exception of the rest of his game is mis-direction.
Yamal has three assists so far in this tournament, the most of any player, while he’s also attempted 30 dribbles with the ball, a number only bettered by four others. Against England’s weakened left-side, creating for others may well end up being his role rather than repeating his semi-final goalscoring act of brilliance.
Nico Williams is more than an just attacking threat
While attention has been lavished upon Yamal since Spain’s semi-final win, the youngster isn’t even the only potentially mortal threat that they have on the wings. On the left-hand side is Nico Williams, but while Williams can get forward it’s his defensive support that has increasingly caught the eye as Spain have progressed.
Against Croatia in the opening game, he made eight ball pressures in their defensive third of the pitch. That number rose to ten against Germany in the quarter-finals in the 90 minutes of normal time and then 13 against France, the second-highest number of any of Spain’s players.
England will remain dependent on “moments”
Asked about the prospect of beating Spain, Gareth Southgate began his reply by saying, “We’ll need to get the ball off them first.” Not only is this a recognition on the England manager’s part of the immense challenge of getting the ball off Spain in the first place, but also by extension a tacit admission of how important it is that they take the chances they get.
With a cautious set-up, England have been dependent on ‘moments’ throughout this tournament, arguably more than any other competing team. The good news there is that they arguably have more players capable of producing or creating them than any other. Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Harry Kane and Ollie Watkins have all already proved themselves plenty capable of either providing or finishing off these ‘moments’. Whether they can do so tonight may determine whether it comes home or not.
The bar to win the Golden Boot is pretty low
One of the most striking statistics to have come from Euro 2024 so far has been how low the bar is to finish as its top scorer. Going into tonight’s final, six players are tied on three goals each in the race for the Golden Boot and only two of them – Harry Kane and Dani Olmo – are still in the competition.
In 2021, Cristiano Ronaldo and Patrick Schick led the way with five each. In 2016 it was Antoine Griezmann, with six. We have to go all the way to 2012 to see statistics similar to this year, when – as this year, going into the final – six players tied for top scorer on three each, and that was a 16-team tournament with a whole round less of matches.
Should Olmo and/or Kane fail to score tonight, this almost anomalous-looking statistic could be repeated, but from a greater number of matches than 2012. No European Championship finals has ended with such a low top goalscorer since there were only eight entrants in 1992.