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.
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| 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.
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| '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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| England will be behind Southgate all the way. |
