- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Despite a disappointing 2-0 loss to Belgium this morning, England’s fourth-place finish at the 2018 World Cup is its best result in 28 years.
Gareth Southgate shuffled his squad about for the third-place-playoff clash and were, in the end, outclassed by a Belgium side which would have been a worthy finalist.
Whatever the significance of the loss, it wraps up the most memorable campaign at a major tournament for this generation of England fans.
In the face of considerable political division and angst on the home front, its footballers have united the country in ways no one could foresee a month ago.
For some fans there’s a lingering frustration that England, in losing to Croatia, let slip an opportunity that may prove once-in-a-lifetime. That is, to see the country in a World Cup Final for the first time since the venerated side of 1966 went all the way.
England manager Gareth Southgate (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
But for the first time since that semi-final loss to Germany in 1990, the ‘four more years’, ‘same old England’ rhetoric has been shelved.
An overwhelming sense of positivity has emerged, which is no mean feat for a nation whose default emotion regarding the national team is cynicism.
It was perhaps most telling that after the extra-time defeat to Croatia, England’s typically scathing tabloids were full of praise for Southgate’s side.
The Daily Mirror’s front page read ‘Heroes: We’re proud of you all’ while The Sun, who six weeks ago had unfairly targeted Raheem Sterling in a front page story about a tattoo on his leg, were lauding a ‘fearless young England side and an inspirational manager’.
Fans have remarked that ‘it feels different this time’. And for good reason.
Southgate told his young charges to ‘go create your own history’ unburdened by the failures of the past.
This seemed like rhetoric to hardened fans who’d seen it all: Pearce’s penalty miss in 1990, Beckham’s sending off in ’98, Rooney rebuking fans in 2010.
Asked about this, midfielder Dele Alli said he’s never even seen the Beckham footage. ‘Huh?’ Some queried his response. But this typified Southgate’s mentality at the World Cup: youngsters don’t care about past teams – give them a chance and they’ll thrive.
Three of England’s best players at the tournament are in the infancy of their careers.
Goalkeeping revelation Jordan Pickford had played just four games for England before their opening clash against Tunisia.
Likewise, Harry Maguire (six caps before Russia 2018) and Kieran Trippier (seven) are still very raw. But all three were immense.
Pickford’s last-gasp save in the Colombia game, followed by a man-of-the-match performance against Sweden gave a previously unconvinced public all the convincing they needed.
Maguire’s natural ability in the air came to the fore, but so did his ball-playing ability out of the back.
One pundit said last week: ‘he almost surprises you with how good his first touch is. Then he does it over and over again’.
Trippier’s free kick against Croatia – the culmination of a brilliant tournament for the right wing-back – made him just the second Englishman (after Beckham) to score from a direct free kick at the World Cup since ’66. Southgate’s faith was repaid in spades.
England’s Danny Welbeck and Harry Kane applaud supporters. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
But despite all the positive signs on the field, perhaps the most pertinent aspect to emerge from Russia is that the divide between the players and fans has been mended.
People in England are excited about international football again, and an affinity with the current crop of players has been established.
For years, and particularly after being embarrassingly bundled out of Euro 2016 by Iceland, watching the Three Lions had become a chore.
National team apathy became toxic, and going to Wembley wasn’t fun anymore. Rooney’s outburst after their 0-0 draw with Algeria in South Africa 2010 – sarcastically claiming ‘it’s nice to see your own fans booing you’ to a TV camera just seconds after the final whistle – was symptomatic of this divide.
The players saw the fans as unsupportive and overly-cynical while the fans saw the players as uninterested and lacking heart.
One of Southgate’s first missions was to change this. He gave the press greater access and his players handled themselves admirably. He himself has shown great class, abandoning cliché to give articulate, reasoned responses in press interviews.
One of those was this: “People may have had a feeling that playing for England was always misery and regret and recrimination,” Southgate said after the Croatia loss. “Now, I think, they have seen it can be enjoyable.”
It’s been enjoyable for both the players and fans. And while the side still has a long way to go before it will truly challenge at a major tournament, at least they now have the nation behind them.