Euro 2024: Has 'Football's Coming Home' become England's biggest curse?

The words “It's Coming Home” will again be sung, bellowed, played and heard without pause across England and beyond this summer, until a point comes when the lyrics are finally proven true, or, once again, a more painful reality emerges . .

Football hasn't come home, just as England hasn't won a major international trophy for over thirty years before the pivotal point of 1996, the year comedians Frank Skinner and David Baddiel teamed up with The Lightning Seeds to release 'Three Lions'. “an instant hit that became the undisputed rallying cry of the national team.

It's a catchy tune. It sounds just as good whether amplified on the car radio or growled a cappella from the stands at Euro 2024, where England begin their latest bid for glory, facing Serbia in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday (Sunday at 3pm ET on FOX and the FOX Sports app).

But could the song also be England's footballing curse? Just one of many reasons why the country that pioneered the sport in its current form has not seen its men's side win anything since its sole title at the 1966 World Cup, despite a number of near misses and overconfident predictions. ?

With Jude Bellingham arguably the best player in the world, captain Harry Kane his best pure striker and Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden as vibrant on the creative attacking side as anyone, it is no surprise that England are the tournament favourites.

Usually it doesn't go that way. Normally in England during World Cups and European Championships there is a sense of national pessimism and nervousness, followed by a rising wave of excitement after what looks like a good result and a quick turnaround in the feeling that this is the year. Because yes, of course it is.

That's when the lyrics of the song are heard en masse, either the choral build-up of “It's Coming Home” or the snappy ending of “Football's Coming Home”, both of which turn into national slogans.

It filters and flows, from the throats of fans who traveled to the event and embraced it from the stadium seats, all the way to the pubs and streets of London and Manchester and all the quaint and not-so-strange towns and villages between them. .

Before it eventually turned out that the words that sounded like a promise were actually a lie and that Croatia were too smart (2018 World Cup semi-final) or Brazil too skilled (2002 World Cup quarter-final) or Germany too clinical (take your pick from heartbreak). ) or that England are bad at penalties, especially in a shootout.

Germany were the tormentor in 1996 and rubbed it in by singing the song during their balcony party at Frankfurt airport, narrated by future United States coach Jurgen Klinsmann.

Before that tournament, Skinner and Baddiel had only intended the tune to reflect the fact that England were hosting the 1996 European Championship, but it came to mean something much more: nostalgic lyrics such as 'hurt for 30 years', which tended towards the feeling that the team's time had come. That's certainly how the fans took it and still do.

That semi-final defeat ended in a shootout as Germany converted all their kicks and England missed just one, from defender Gareth Southgate. Southgate is now England's head coach, and has been for the past eight years. During that period the team has achieved a series of great results.

But there are only so many times a coach can knock on the door before people wonder why the door hasn't been opened. England have never been as close as they were at the European Championship three years ago, when they took an early lead at Wembley Stadium, and it wasn't long before the song started to chorus.

“We could hear it,” said Giorgio Chiellini, Italy captain on the night and now a FOX Sports analyst for Euro 2024. “I think it makes England nervous because there is so much anticipation. Even in the first half them the ball to waste time. We could feel it.”

The feeling that it motivates other teams is a popular topic. Croatia certainly found a rise on the message board in 2018, with Luka Modric claiming the chants were part of what he perceived as a general 'disrespect' from England.

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Southgate insists that England fans are singing 'Three Lions' not out of arrogance, a claim that is honestly a little difficult to agree with.

“I didn't want to listen to it for 15 years,” Southgate said. “It was too painful. You have to know the English language to understand our humor. It is certainly not arrogance. The lyrics are actually a joke about ourselves.”

The fact remains that it continues to hurt to be an England fan. There have been plenty of joyful moments, but there is still a sense of waiting for the one and only cure.

Germany has won the European Championship three times and the World Cup four times. Spain has won the World Cup once and the European Championship three times. France has two World Cups and two Euros. Italy has four World Cups and two Euros.

England consider themselves a footballing nation on par with each of these, yet have still managed just the one 1966 World Cup win on home soil, spurred on by a brilliant hat-trick from Geoff Hurst and the talismanic captaincy of Bobby Moore.

A few years ago there was almost a new realization among England supporters, the thought that football might never come home again. Until this age-old, talented team suddenly sparked a whole new sense of hope.

Is Bellingham's calm head the antidote to all that historical fear? Can Kane win his first trophy at club or international level in the most glorious way possible? And, whisper it now: is the defense good enough to withstand all the challenges that await it?

So many questions, but you will have noticed that the texts do not ask any questions. They make a statement that has always been proven untrue, at no fewer than 13 major tournaments since the song was first created.

And with another tournament just around the corner, what to say about “Football's Coming Home?”

As always, next month will tell whether or not this is the case, and that outcome will decide whether a country erupts in unstoppable national joy, or cries one more time because it felt foolish to believe in it.

Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports. Follow him on Twitter @MRogersFOX And subscribe to the daily newsletter.

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