Optimism has come home: How supporting England went from agony to ecstasy at the World Cup

For the English, and those doomed enough to support the English football team, it’s been a long, cold and lonely winter, particular at World Cups.  

It’s not just been the fact that they’ve failed to win, they’ve failed to even appear capable of winning.

Supporting England has been an exercise in masochism, to hope against hope that an underperforming nation will find its pride and put up a decent performance. The World Cup in general, every four years, is an exhibition of the nation’s ability to bear pain with a stiff upper-lip

Gareth Southgate with the lads (Reuters)

Bad performances are engraved in every fan’s memory. Mine started from 1998 which involved Beckham getting a red card in 1998 after sticking his leg out and losing on penalties to Argentina.

These incidents followed with a metronome. Getting humbled by a gravity-defying Ronaldinho free-kick in 2002.

Rooney stepping on Ricardo Carvalho’s family jewels in 2006, before being shown the red card with a little help from a winking Portuguese named Cristiano Ronaldo.

Getting ripped apart in 2010 by a marauding German. Failing to even get out of the group with Uruguay and Italy, a grinning Mario Balotelli rubbing it in.

Being a fan of this team, was all about living with the bad, happy in the knowledge that this too would pass before the inevitable Premier League tussle starts.

That was until the World Cup 2018, when the sun has finally shone on the rainy island.

 It’s coming home, an ironic chant meant to mock the notion that ‘Football is coming home’ went from a joke to a chant of pride.

With big horses like Italy and Netherlands failing to qualify, and the likes of Germany and Spain knocked out, a young English team has been making us dream again in Russia. And yet they don't seem burdened by what they have achieved so far. 

Southgate has gone from failed English player to a national hero, making the world swoon with his waistcoats and polite behaviour. As he holds fort about multi-culturalism, he has become a hero to aspire to in a deeply divided nation.  

Harry Kane (EFE)

While casual football fans might be surprised by England’s progress, they’ve been working on the process for a while, working from the grassroots. The English’s FA’s St George’s Park was launched officially in 2012 and the FA has been working on the game in all age groups.  

2017 has been a glorious year for the nation’s junior squads, winning the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the UEFA European U-19 Championships and the FIFA U-17 World Cup. The U-17 World Cup glory was achieved in a thrilling final in Kolkata against Spain, who had gone down 2-0 before rebounding to a 5-2 victory.

Southgate, the former U-21 manager, might have become the gaffer by chance, thanks to Sam Allardyce’s indiscretions in a pub, but he has grabbed his opportunity with both hands. He has picked players based on form instead of their name, leaving out big-hitters like Jack Wilshere and Joe Hart, who didn’t get enough game time at their clubs.

He has backed players to play it their own way, keeping a clear system in place. They’ve been playing with the 3-5-2 for a while and it has worked. When the team takes corners and set-pieces, everyone exactly knows what’s expected of them.

Gone are those English teams which would try to shoehorn Paul Scholes in the left wing to fit Lampard and Gerrard in the same squad. Or try to prove that Emile Heskey should be playing up front. 

The players also come across as likeable lads, shorn of the inflated egos of their predecessors. There are no cliques, the kind we saw earlier where Manchester United, Liverpool or Chelsea players would just stick together, as would the white and black boys.

Most of these lads weren't even born when England last reached the semi-final in 1990. They have no memory of watching Gazza's tears. All they know is the fact that Harry Kane is the tournament's top goal scorer and could become the first Englishman to win it since Gary Lineker. Yet, on Tuesday, the defining image was Harry Kane & Co tossing around a rubber chicken! 

Most importantly, they not burdened by the baggage of past failures. Of course, the fairy tale could end very soon.

Croatia is a far tougher opponent than any team they have faced in a must-win match so far. Modric, the diminutive Real Madrid midfielder is a magician, a man who seems in complete control of his art, caressing the ball into doing things whatever his heart pleases.

Rakitic along with Modric is one of the best midfield formations at this tournament. Meanwhile, both Mario Mandzukic and Ivan Perisic are individuals who can hurt any team.

But English fans, or players won’t care. When asked if he is nervous, Dele Alli summed it up for the team and the nation: “Excited, not nervous.”

The time for suffering is over. It doesn’t even matter if England gets knocked out by Croatia. For an island whose national team’s exploits had become an embarrassment, the Three Lions have again become a symbol of hope.

Southgate has tried to temper optimism. He has said: "We are not the finished article and we do not have world-class players yet, but we have young players who are prepared to be brave on the ball and have shown a real mental resilience." The truth is that this squad will only get better as they become more mature.

As George Harrison, the quiet Beatle, sang all those years ago, it’s been a long and cold lonely winter, but now it’s all right, here comes the sun.

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter. Here comes the sun, and I say, it's all right. Little darling, the smiles returning to the faces. Little darling, it seems like years since it's been here.