Football can’t come home if it never leaves.
In June, AJ4Games decided to play EA Sports FC 24 as England at Euro 2024 and the final and result were very different. Instead of taking on Spain, England faced France and they trounced the Les Bleus 6–1, with Ollie Watkins scoring a 10-minute hat-trick at the end of the match.
6–1? Imagine that in ANY of England’s match in the real Euros. But AJ4Games isn’t the only one to bring it home in a virtual sense, as Luke Plunkett from Aftermath did the same:
Just because I’m helpless watching the actual team stumble, though, doesn’t mean I can’t do anything about it. There’s always the Dream Factory. So this week I’ve been playing the shit out of the Euro 2024 expansion for EA Sports FC 24, giving me a window into an alternate timeline where instead of lumbering around for seven games and winning the most embarrassing Golden Boot of all time, Harry Kane looked sharp as a thistle and scored seven goals leading England through the tournament, culminating in a crushing 3-0 win over Germany in the final in which he scored a brace. The real Harry Kane may have drudged off the field on Sunday night still somehow without a major trophy to his name, but my Harry Kane, the one inside my Dream Factory, lifted the Henri Delaunay Trophy without breaking a sweat.
While I won’t be joining in, I do remember the time I won Euro 2010 on Football Manager 2010 with England which included a last-minute-of-extra-time winner from Kevin Davies(!!) in the semi final. This was the time when I was worse at the game than I am now. In the world of pixels, UIs, and 3D renders, there are no years of hurt. Ever.