MARCEL MBAMALUScintillating Record
On Sunday, 14 July, Spain beat England 2-1 to lift a record 4th European football championship title. Spain reached this height after outclassing England on all ‘positive’ statistical counts (goal tally, 2-1; possession, 63%-37%; shots on target 5-3, shots off target, 5-2; corner kicks (10-2); Throw-ins, 21-11; crosses, 19-8; and pass accuracy, 89.7%-77.0% 489/545 -229/294 passes). For the yellow cards (3-1), goal kicks (11-6), and fouls (5-11), England, with the scores on the right, were ‘better’.
Spain set other records such as winning the most matches (seven) and scoring the most goals (15) in a European tournament, overtaking France’s 1984 tally of 14 goals. France also set the previous record of five wins in 1984, after the group stages were introduced in 1980.
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England will wait until they answer the big questions
After England’s night of disappointment at the Euro final, they are now looking towards the FIFA World Cup in 2026, when it will be six decades since the country last won anything on the international stage. It doesn’t just have to be about England alone, but the country is such a soccer nation to wait this long, when countries like Greece, Denmark and the defunct Czechoslovakia have made it big on the international stage. Without winning on the big stage, England still leave doubts about the quality of the Three Lions (as the team is known over time).
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Spain won all their seven games from the group stages to the trophy, setting a new record and also finishing as the undisputed best team. Spain’s victory was remarkable because they went through the toughest path to the trophy. They were the only team to top their group, with maximum nine points, conceding no goals. In the knockout stages, they downed Germany, France and England, all of them former winners (except England) as well as within the best 10 ranked teams. Again, France had eliminated Portugal before France itself was eliminated by Spain. And here lies the real issue for England. England must prove that it can win against the big boys. This is what stands in their way to date.
The Telling Numbers
Since 1966 when England won the World Cup, their only senior trophy since then, the team has only played six teams that are within the world’s best 10, namely, Germany, Portugal, France, Italy, Netherlands, and Belgium. That is, for both the FIFA World Cup and the Euros (Tables 1 & 2). In fact, the final against Spain on Sunday was England’s 45th game in their Euro history, the highest by any country that has not won it. Belgium comes in second at 26 games without glory.
England faced tougher tests at the Euro group stages in 2000 and 2004. In 2000, they faced Germany, Romania and Portugal, but did not survive the group stages (Table 3).
In 2004, they faced France, Croatia and Switzerland, and finished second at the group stages, only to lose at the next stage (quarter final) to Portugal.
Denmark, Sweden and Switzerland are the other teams within the best 20 teams globally played by England since 1980. Within this time, England failed to make it through the group stages on four occasions in the Euro (Table 3).
Successively in 2020 and 2024, they were runners up (Table 1). In the other three occasions, they were beaten by teams that were within the best 10 (Portugal, Italy and Spain), except Iceland in 2016.
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In the World Cup, England have played in 10 editions since 1982, and crashed out at the group stages once, and reached the semis twice. On nine occasions when they pulled through the group stages, they lost to teams within the best 10 in the world (Table 2). In the 2018 World Cup, England played Colombia and Sweden respectively in the round of 16 and quarter final, only to fall at the semis to a rampant Croatia (Table 4).
In 2022, they played Senegal in the round of 16, and fell to France in the quarter final (Table 4). Then at Euro 2024, England topped their group with 5 points (consisting of Slovenia, Denmark and Serbia), and played Slovakia, Switzerland and Netherlands in the round of 16, quarter final and semifinal respectively. Again, a team in the top 10, Spain, was insurmountable at last (Table 3).
While Netherlands are in the top 10 as of 2024, England needed dying minute goals to prevail in all three knockout games against Slovakia, Switzerland and Netherlands, even benefitting from a 95th wonder goal from Jude Bellingham to equal 1-1 with Slovakia at the round of 16 before prevailing 2-1 in extra time. England drew with both Denmark and Slovenia at the group stages.
Yes, you must beat the best to win a major trophy. Yet, Spain could have gone away with much accolades even if they had lost to England in the final. Why? Spain overcame some of the best on the way when compared to England en route to the final. Perhaps, England need the luck of encountering stronger teams early to grow the toughness needed to conquer at last.
Dr Mbamalu, a Jefferson Fellow and Member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE), is a Publisher and Communications/Media Consultant. His extensive research works on Renewable Energy and Health Communication are published in several international journals, including SAGE.
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Dr. Marcel Mbamalu is a communication scholar, journalist and entrepreneur. He holds a Ph.D in Mass Communication from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and is the Chief Executive Officer Newstide Publications, the publishers of Prime Business Africa.
A seasoned journalist, he horned his journalism skills at The Guardian Newspaper, rising to the position of News Editor at the flagship of the Nigerian press. He has garnered multidisciplinary experience in marketing communication, public relations and media research, helping clients to deliver bespoke campaigns within Nigeria and across Africa.
He has built an expansive network in the media and has served as a media trainer for World Health Organisation (WHO) at various times in Northeast Nigeria. He has attended numerous media trainings, including the Bloomberg Financial Journalism Training and Reuters/AfDB training on Effective Coverage of Infrastructural Development of Africa.
A versatile media expert, he won the Jefferson Fellowship in 2023 as the sole Africa representative on the program. Dr Mbamalu was part of a global media team that covered the 2020 United State’s Presidential election. As Africa's sole representative in the 2023 Jefferson Fellowships, Dr Mbamalu was selected to tour the United States and Asia (Japan and Hong Kong) as part of a 12-man global team of journalists on a travel grant to report on inclusion, income gaps and migration issues between the US and Asia.
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