Encapsulating, invigorating - the 2018 World Cup

9.45 on Tuesday 3 July, 2018. I had driven up to my parents' house to watch the game with my Dad, an extreme cynic when it comes to the subject of England at major football tournaments. With penalties immanent, the premonition of doom swept across both of us. For me, at the age of 26, there was still a part of me that believed that my own pessimism was an act that would eventually be dissipated by that unlikeliest of beasts - an England penalty win. Deep down, though I would never be brave enough to vocalise it, I had the tiniest bit of hope.

Dad, with an extra 23 years of observing trauma-inducing England failure, clearly had the tiny spark of possibility beaten out of him by failure after failure after failure. As the referee blew the final whistle, Dad wandered out into the garden and started watering the plants. Rather than consuming another penalty defeat, the choice had been made to vanish into the shadows of the evening sunset.

The picture usually taken 5 minutes before an England defeat...

I kept telling myself I was watching 'so I could see which players would be adding their name to the dreaded list'. When Jordan Henderson missed his penalty, it seemed like the push-out of pessimism would be vindicated again. Why believe England can win penalties? What good does it bring to have that inner feeling of possibility destroyed over and over?

But the 2018 World Cup was a tournament in which the strange, unexpected and impossible happened. Only six days earlier I had been punching the air as South Korea led a brave, barely-believable effort against the imperious Germans, throwing the champions into the sort of despair and heartbreak normally reserved for the Three Lions.

'Uncharacteristic' would be an understatement

Other precedents had been evaporating as the matches came gloriously thick and fast. Argentina, who were supposed to carrying Lionel Messi to a crown that would solidify his status as the greatest to grace the game, faltered to a thrashing by an impressive Croatia, before falling to France in a genuine World Cup classic. Portugal, who were hoping to complete the same feat with Cristiano Ronaldo, were undone by two pieces of attacking genius by Uruguay. Even the usually unbreakable Spain nearly contrived to lose to Iran in the group stages, before a much-unfancied Russia side closed the door on them and snuck in a penalty victory that would leave one side of the tournament looking like a huge opportunity to the rest of the teams involved.

England themselves had broken some traditions. Namely, the tradition that they would perform shakily, struggle in the group stages, and that their key players would go missing. Instead, a hard-fought victory against Tunisia in which Southgate's men looked impressive was followed by a truly enjoyable rout against a quite extraordinary Panama. Harry Kane had already bagged 5 goals - instantly putting him into the top three most prolific strikers for England at the World Cup. The only blot on the copybook, up until the knockout stages, was a flat performance against Belgium in which many of the team were rested. But, on reflection, the story of what was to come would never have happened had England not accepted a narrow defeat in this game.

Edinson Cavani had been uniquely brilliant against Portugal

With this in mind, I still had that faintest bit of hope. Even after Henderson's miss, the hope remained, tiny but tangible. I blame my starry-eyed Manchester United lust as a kid. I still have a strong memory of believing they had thrown away the 2008 Champions League Final, a penalty down and needing a Chelsea miss to stay in the game. As you'll probably remember, John Terry's famous slip turned the tide of the shootout irreparably, allowing United's victory. Whenever England are a penalty down, I know that any team could have a 'John Terry moment' and the momentum could shift at any point.

And so it was. Mateus Uribe blasted his penalty against the crossbar, and Carlos Bacca was denied by  a truly heroic save by Jordan Pickford. All it came down to was Eric Dier, who me and Dad had both been loudly critical of since he became a part of the England set-up. I couldn't quite believe it was him who would be taking penalty five. Head-in-hands, I watched. Again, vocalising that it was typical he would be taking it, and my belief that he wouldn't score - but yearning for a moment where he just did.

Eric Dier - the unlikeliest spot-kick hero since Neil from the Inbetweeners

The penalty hitting the back of the net incited the sort of relief and euphoria that is hard to put into words. How can you sum up the moment where a repeated failure which has been drilled into the national psyche just... ends? Of course, if England go on to lose their next two or three shootouts, the hoodoo will return, but in the immediate aftermath of Eric Dier whipping his penalty beyond the Colombian 'keeper, it felt like the burden of England's recent football history had just been lifted from the entire country.

I shouted outside to Dad. It took a minute for him to really register what I was even saying to him, such was his strength of conviction in our inevitable defeat. Eventually he realised I wasn't just talking about us scoring a penalty, I actually meant we'd won at penalties. We'd won at penalties.

6 tournaments had ended with penalty defeat in 28 years. Not this one.

To me, and I believe a lot of England fans, this will be the enduring memory of the tournament, because it came to represent what this young side was, and will be. A fresh start with fresh ideas, detached from the inadequacies and incompetencies of the past. A team with a positive outlook on the world of football, believing that old ghosts exist to be rested, and new records are there to be set.

It was a brilliant World Cup, with fantastic matches throughout the tournament. Spain 3-3 Portugal, France 4-3 Argentina, Brazil 1-2 Belgium, and the final itself, will likely go down as all-time great World Cup clashes. And for England fans, we can look back on a legitimately impressive effort which exceeded expectations. Yes, losing to Croatia was disappointing, but I feel the heartbreak is dulled by the fact that Croatia were simply better than us, and that's nothing that we didn't know previously. This wasn't a case of 'what could have been', because realistically it was never going to get better than that.

Croatia - legitimately good enough to do well at a World Cup.

So I send my gratitude to the world of football once more for putting on another encapsulating, invigorating display. Where the Premier League can become mired in defensive, drab football, the World Cup continues to produce tremendous games where players play with belief, freedom and bravery. Despite its contentious location and quite ridiculous rescheduling, the 2022 World Cup can't come soon enough - and it doesn't seem so crazy to believe that on this occasion, it could be coming home!

England will be behind Southgate all the way.