England were ahead before Luka Modrić touched the ball.
In fact, it was from a foul Modrić committed, chasing back and scything down Dele Alli outside the Croatian penalty area, that England took the lead.
Kieran Trippier, one of England’s least known names and one of their best performers, curled a free kick over the wall and into the top corner, before being smothered by a heap of his teammates in a joyous sideline stacks-on.
It was the perfect start, a scarcely believable continuation of England’s fine run of form, a new verse perhaps being written for that earworm song we’ve all been hearing rattling around Twitter these last two weeks.
With the barmy army pumping out pounding drum-and-horn ditties, England threatened with two corners, both of which ended with Harry Maquire applying his vast, hulking forehead violently to pleather.
Raheem Sterling was haring around, sniffing out long balls, Alli and Jesse Lingard’s touch was soft and neat, and the back three were looking assured; the opening 15 minutes provided no compelling evidence Croatia were the better, more accomplished, more likely team, though there was a whiff of that whenever Modrić or Ivan Rakitić rolled their studs over the ball. That whiff would eventually intensify into a rich aroma.
This was not, it is fair to say, the high-spec encounter of the last semi-final; Dejan Lovren’s two agricultural fouls on Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling punctuated the opening half an hour, with slightly overhit passes and wild attempts to retrieve them the other central theme.
Flymiles
Guest
A young English team with energy and tatent but in my mind the constant diving to try and get a fee kicks spoilt my image of a developing team . With 23 free kicks England to only twelve to Croatia gave England a distinct advatage but in the end the better team won . I think the referee got a bit fed up with there dramatic antic by the second half Are football followers happy to put up with this play acting which is spoiling the game? . Easily fiixed but is there support to resolve this issue . I think not The heady mix of nationalism and nostalgia which rolled through the country will quickly subside . The England shirts are again on sale in the shops .
paulywalnuts
Guest
You have no idea what sports ( for 99.9999999% of people is about, do you?
MQ
Guest
Let's not forget that we won the Pentathlete gold at the last Olympic games.
Rellum
Roar Guru
Yeah, nah on the code war stuff. I am quite happy to enjoy both sports.
brian drian
Guest
+1
Kris
Guest
But more over their wins. England + heat wave + beer = poor little darlings losing their minds.
Kris
Guest
You missed the first goal? And you missed the equaliser where a big bloke stuck out a foot and won a physical contest? Or did you miss the winner where a quick nimble bloke got behind his defender after some head tennis. The only 'sophisticated' goal was Trippier's.
anon
Roar Pro
Disgraceful. I thought the English cleaned up all that hooliganism in their society.
Kris
Guest
England has been one of the last countries to abandon 11-a-side, full-pitch football and competitive leagues for juniors. Since they have they are producing some very good junior teams. I think the assessment that the English players lacked technique or whatever is a bit lazy. They had a good tournament, were entertaining, and let down by their defence in the end - not their choice of passing. The stereotype of huff and puff footballers seems to ignore that Trippier's goal was as well taken a free kick as you could hope to see. If England have a problem it is all thegood juniors getting 'stuck' in the youth teams at the big 4 or 5 clubs and not being able to get game time. Their junior players go from making the England under-19s to not playing any meaningful football until they are 23.
Martyn50
Guest
Not reported in the Aust media but plenty of vandalism in UK over their lose
BigAl
Guest
Thank God England won't win the World Cup ! Just imagine the hooligans have a real carry on about it all being due to BREXIT !!
chris
Guest
England have always lacked that extra technical quality that separates the good teams from the best. Its always been that way. I remember as a youngster watching world cups in Spain and Mexico and thinking, why do all my English heroes look so clunky on the ball compared to the Italians, Spaniards, French, Brazilians, Argies etc? We only used to get the highlight reels from England back then (until SBS came along) so we'd only ever see these other players at WC time. Even the Germans looked clunky but they excelled at physicality and that will to win and togertherness etc. I still haven't heard any legitimate reasons why this technical and ease on the ball differences exist. There are just as many English playing street football as there are in Spain and Italy. So what are the reasons?
chris
Guest
Rellum for me I would have enjoyed the poms winning so that people would look even sillier gloating about ashes wins. Maybe it would inspire this "sporting" nation to higher achievements?
chris
Guest
Agreed that the game should have been buried by half time. How Kane missed that sitter to make it 2-0 up is beyond me. Everything else that followed would be moot if Kane makes it 2-0. Croatia did not have the legs to claw back from that deficit. But Kane didnt score and the rest is history. Anyone know why on earth did the lino have his flag up on Kanes miss?
chris
Guest
Because pauly, at the highest levels, sport is about testing yourself against the best. If you want to continue testing yourself against the mediocre and lower, then keep following AFL and league and keep patting yourself on the back as to how good we are. Had to laugh that we had a parade for "winning" the SOO. What bubble do these people live in?
paulywalnuts
Guest
Yeah, but why on Earth would we want to do that?
MQ
Guest
No need to apologise realfootball. Your opinion is always most welcome on these pages.
MQ
Guest
Good point sham, England is the mother of all the footballs of the world. But if we are looking for the great-grandmother, then one need look no further than the ancient indigenous game of Wogaballiri, which we used as the central plank of our bid to host the 2022 world cup.
Max Danger
Guest
thats because they won.
Iromonger
Guest
...or Uruguay, the host of the first World Cup. The whole “it’s coming home” campaign showed a very introspective nation for what it is, they did vote for Brexit after all. Or maybe this ultra-nationalistic parochialism is what happens to us all when you spend billions of dollars and hundreds of years marketing to the people that the geopolitical boundaries that you live within define you as a person, and then create a team that represents your country (and ergo you and your personal identity) and stick them in a competition with other countries equally committed to a positive national identity.