Can a couple of football matches provide evidence that England in the 21st century is a better nation than the Daily Mail would have us believe? In Amsterdam on Friday night England’s seniors confronted the Netherlands with a team whose starting XI contained seven black or mixed-race players, including all three forwards. On Saturday evening their under-21 colleagues played Romania with nine black players in white shirts at the kick-off.
Both teams won their matches using the same brand of football. They aimed to play the ball out of defence with patience, accuracy and positional sophistication. Unafraid to utilise what skills they possessed, they showed composure. If there was no genius visible in their display, at least there was a sense of optimism. It wasn’t going to make headlines around the world, but it was certainly encouraging.
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