Chapter 544 - 544

As Italy and Turkey prepared for kickoff in Rome, social media was already overflowing with arguments about the tournament.

📱 @EuroWatch

France still look like the deepest side in Europe. World champions two years ago and Mbappé has only improved since then.

📱 @ThreeLionsTalk

England have enough attacking quality to hurt anybody. The real question is balance—Kane, Ling, Sterling, Sancho, Rashford and Mount can't all occupy the same areas.

📱 @PortugalCentral

People are somehow forgetting the defending champions again. Cristiano, Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, João Félix and Jota is not a bad collection of attacking players.

📱 @BelgianRedDevils

If De Bruyne is fit and Lukaku gets service, Belgium can beat anyone in this tournament.

📱 @EnglandAnalytics

Southgate has already experimented with Kane dropping off and Ling attacking the space beyond him in the friendlies. It looks promising, but Euro 2020 will be the first real test of how well that partnership works under pressure.

📱 @CroatiaFootballTalk

England supporters are talking about revenge already. Modrić has heard all of this before.

Ling glanced through a few of the posts before putting his phone aside.

Prematch predictions had stopped meaning much to him a long time ago.

Praise did not make the next pass easier, criticism did not make the goal smaller, and once the match began, the only opinions that truly mattered belonged to the players on the pitch.

...

June 14, 2020.

Wembley Stadium.

The atmosphere changed long before England's team bus reached the stadium.

Flags covered buildings, barriers, and windows along the route, while supporters crowded the approaches to Wembley hours before kickoff.

Ling had played there several times at club level and had already worn the England shirt in friendlies, but this felt different.

Those earlier international appearances had carried none of the weight surrounding a major tournament opener, particularly one against the country that had eliminated England from the World Cup two years earlier.

Maguire spent much of the journey looking through the window at the supporters and admitted that the nerves were beginning to arrive now that kickoff was only a few hours away.

Ling understood the feeling even if his own experience of Croatia in 2018 had been from the outside.

For Maguire and several others on the bus, that defeat was personal; for Ling, the tension came from somewhere else entirely.

This would be his first competitive match for England on a stage like this.

Champions League finals had taught him how to deal with pressure, but international tournament football was still something he had never experienced from inside the team.

The waiting remained the worst part.

Once the whistle blew and the ball started moving, the occasion usually became much easier to manage because football returned to being football.

...

Inside the dressing room, Southgate's final instructions were concise because the tactical work had already been completed.

England knew Croatia's strengths, and nothing needed to be reinvented simply because the match was part of the European Championship.

Modrić could not be allowed to receive repeatedly without pressure and dictate the entire rhythm of the contest, but sending one player after him recklessly would only create space for Kovačić and Brozović.

The press therefore had to move as a unit.

England's midfield needed to recognize when to step forward and when to hold its position, while the attacking players were responsible for making Croatia's buildup uncomfortable without becoming so aggressive that the shape behind them collapsed.

With the ball, Southgate wanted patience without passivity.

Croatia's midfield was technically strong enough to punish careless turnovers, but England's pace gave them a clear advantage whenever the match opened up.

Kane would lead the line as captain, with Ling starting from the left and given freedom to move inside.

Sterling occupied the opposite flank, while Mount worked around the spaces behind Kane.

The midfield behind them was selected to provide enough protection that England's attacking players could interchange without constantly exposing the defense.

Southgate had already experimented with parts of that structure during Ling's previous friendly appearances, but nobody inside the dressing room pretended the combinations were fully developed.

Ling had only spent a handful of camps with most of these players, and understanding Kane's movement on a tactics board was very different from recognizing it instinctively in a European Championship match.

That was why Southgate's final message centered less on complicated instructions and more on trust.

Several members of the squad had already experienced World Cup knockout matches, Champions League finals, Premier League title races, and other enormous occasions.

Ling had his own wealth of club experience even if major international football was new to him.

Wembley did not require any of them to become different players simply because the competition had changed.

They needed to trust the preparation and adapt when the match demanded it.

...

The players gathered in the tunnel.

Ling recognized most of Croatia's senior figures immediately.

Modrić stood near the front with the same calm expression he seemed to carry into every major match, while Kovačić and Perišić spoke quietly nearby.

There was nothing unfamiliar about facing Modrić himself.

Ling had already played against him at club level, including United's Champions League tie with Real Madrid earlier in the season, and the two exchanged a brief nod when their eyes met.

The circumstances around them, however, were completely different.

This time Ling was not wearing Manchester United red.

He was standing behind Harry Kane in an England shirt, waiting to make his first appearance in a major international tournament.

Kane adjusted the captain's armband as the signal came for the teams to move forward, and the conversations behind him gradually faded.

Ling looked toward the opening of the tunnel and listened as the noise from Wembley became clearer.

The sensation before kickoff was familiar enough.

The meaning attached to it was not.

...

England emerged into a wall of sound.

"Good afternoon from Wembley," Peter Drury began as the teams walked onto the pitch. "England against Croatia, and Gareth Southgate's side begin Euro 2020 against the country that ended their World Cup journey two years ago."

Jim Beglin immediately shifted the discussion toward the football rather than the revenge narrative.

"That history matters emotionally, particularly for the England players who were there in Moscow, but these are not exactly the same teams. England have developed enormously since then, Croatia have changed as well, and Southgate now has Jeremy Ling available for his first major international tournament. The challenge is fitting that extra attacking quality into a balanced side."

The camera moved slowly across England's lineup.

Kane.

Sterling.

Mount.

Maguire.

Then Ling.

The reaction inside Wembley rose noticeably when his face appeared on the stadium screens.

That was hardly surprising after the season he had just completed.

Four goals in the Champions League final would have made him the focus of almost any broadcast, even without the Premier League title, FA Cup, Ballon d'Or, and everything else he had collected over the previous three years.

His club résumé was enormous.

His England résumé was not.

Ling had already appeared in a few senior friendlies under Southgate, enough for the coaching staff to understand his qualities and for his teammates to begin learning how he played, but this was the first time any of those combinations would be tested in a major tournament.

For England supporters, that made his presence both exciting and slightly uncertain.

They knew exactly what Jeremy Ling could do for Manchester United.

Now they were about to find out what he could do for England when the result actually mattered.

"Ling will naturally receive a huge amount of attention," Beglin continued, "but England cannot fall into the trap of simply giving him the ball and waiting for something extraordinary. Kane remains one of the best center-forwards in Europe, Sterling offers another major threat, and Mount gives them intelligence between the lines. If those pieces work together, Ling becomes much more difficult for Croatia to isolate."

That was exactly what Southgate had emphasized throughout camp.

...

The online discussion was already moving almost as quickly as the television coverage.

📱 @ThreeLionsTalk

Kane through the middle, Ling starting left but obviously free to come inside, Sterling on the other side. Promising front line, but this is the first time we'll see that setup in a match that really matters.

📱 @CroatiaFootballTalk

Everyone is focused on Ling. Fine. Give Modrić space and Croatia will happily take it.

📱 @UnitedStand

Maguire and Ling lifted the Champions League together less than two weeks ago and now they're starting for England at Wembley. Ridiculous season.

📱 @SpursWatch

Kane dropping deep and feeding Ling's runs looks terrifying in theory. Let's see how quickly they can actually build the understanding.

📱 @LiverpoolWatch

For the duration of this tournament, Jeremy Ling has my full support. Hostilities resume the moment the Premier League returns.

📱 @EuroTactics

England have more pace. Croatia have more natural midfield control. Ling is the wildcard because everyone knows his club level, but this is his first serious competitive run with England.

...

The captains were called forward.

Kane represented England.

Modrić represented Croatia.

After the coin toss and the final handshakes, both returned to their teams.

Ling moved into his starting position and looked around Wembley as the noise continued rolling down from the stands.

He had already won almost everything club football could offer him: Premier League titles, domestic cups, three Champions Leagues, and the Ballon d'Or.

He had played decisive matches at Old Trafford, the Bernabéu, Camp Nou, and in Champions League finals, learning how to perform when the pressure surrounding a match became almost suffocating.

None of those achievements gave England a single goal today.

Nor could they give him experience he did not yet possess.

England had reached the World Cup semifinal in Russia without him.

Many of the players around him had lived through that run together and knew exactly what it felt like when an entire country began believing a major trophy might finally be within reach.

Ling had watched that tournament from the outside.

Now, for the first time, he was part of it.

England were stronger and more experienced than they had been two years earlier, while Ling and several other additions gave Southgate options that had not existed in Russia. Whether that would be enough remained to be seen.

There were no guarantees attached to any of it.

Only an opportunity.

The referee checked both sides, raised the whistle, and brought it to his lips.

A moment later, Jeremy Ling's first major international tournament began!