Something’s happening in English football that hasn’t happened for some time: there’s genuine positivity surrounding the national team.
For years, and particularly after being embarrassingly bundled out of Euro 2016 by Iceland, watching the Three Lions has become a chore for many fans. Fans would watch the team play, but only as there was no other football on, owing to Premier League breaks during international football windows.
The period following the Iceland loss was far from their first episode of national team apathy. Just ten years ago they failed to qualify for what should have been a straight-forward qualification period for Euro 2008 and – to be frank – embarrassing defeats throughout the years have been plentiful.
The ‘darkest day’ headline is almost a quadrennial event.
Living there for a number of years, I was struck by how negative many fans were leading up to a friendly or World Cup qualifier. The inclination to utter ‘same old England’ as soon as anything went wrong – be that consequential or even trivial – created a distinctly negative air around the national side.
Perhaps fans had been hurt too many times, and the cumulative effect of repeated dashed hopes had taken its toll. Years of rivals’ schadenfreude had perhaps led to excessive caution. Dare to dream? No thanks.
But manager Gareth Southgate has somehow turned that around in short time. There’s a renewed feeling of hope around the England team, and not just because they’re getting results. Southgate has employed a fresh approach that’s injected youth, pace and free-flowing football, words not usually uttered in the same breath as England teams of the past.
It has shifted a default national pessimism into a certain level of faith in the side. Faith that a system is in place and that system works.
England dominated the early periods in their opening World Cup clash against Tunisia on Tuesday but squandered several quilt-edged chances. After Harry Kane put his side 1-0 up, Tunisia responded before half-time with an equaliser. England then struggled to create chances in the second half, and utterances of ‘same old England’ seemed inevitable.
Except this time, fans on the whole shelved their cynicism. They were duly rewarded when Kane headed home in the 91st minute. The result makes progression to the knockout stages a much smoother process, and they go into tonight’s game against Panama (10pm AEST) far more relaxed.
Southgate has addressed the relationship with the fans and believes his side has won back their confidence.
“I think there was a shift in November when we brought in some of the younger players,” he said.
“There was a clear shift in the identity of the team, we went to a back three and people have been warmed by that”.
And while the on-field performances form a large part of this public shift in mentality, team culture has also played a big role according to Southgate.
“We are seeing now that this is a team that is enjoying each other’s company, getting on well, very proud to represent their nation, that have some talent, a real desire and determination to play for England and are determined to play in a style that people are enjoying watching.”
(Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images)
It’s a refreshing philosophy that belies years of conservatism within the England national team. Southgate wants his players to believe they can hold the World Cup aloft.
“Why would I limit what they feel is possible? My job is to allow people to dream. Make the impossible seem possible. None of us are going to get excited or get out of bed just for getting out of the group.”
It’s a stunning reversal in feeling associated with the national side. Southgate, after all, was one of the most reluctant managers in modern times. After Sam Allardyce was spectacularly sacked just one game into his national managerial career in late 2016, Southgate’s tenure as caretaker manager moved to the full-time role despite him never appearing like he truly wanted to give up his position with England’s Under-21s to take the men’s team role.
But since his arrival, the cynicism has slowly ebbed. The side can’t be ‘same old England’ as they’ve been redefined. A new identity is in place.
Fans know that, in all likelihood, this team won’t be there come the pointy end of the World Cup. But they are now beginning to hope and think they can win a game in the knockout stages, something (incredibly) they’ve only done six times in a major tournament since winning the 1966 World Cup.
A win against Panama will secure their place in the Round of 16, and set up a clash for Group G top spot against Belgium on Friday morning.
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