A lot of people have times they look back on fondly, and there can be many different factors that help create these great memories of time gone by. Some appreciate the time of year, the weather, an event or a happening in their own life that made a general vibe during a certain time period just feel… different.
In a section of culture in England, the summer of 2018 was dominated by three main factors; the great weather that summer, the TV show ‘Love Island’, and the 2018 Fifa World Cup. For most people in England, and in particular those aged 16-30, at least one of those 3 factors (and for some all 3) mean that summer 2018 is one held aloft as one of the best. And while not for me personally does 2018’s summer bring back fond memories (more on that later), I do believe it was the summer that brought back belief to the one true love of my life, the England Men’s football team.
In this blog, I will be looking back on this footballing giant’s tournament progress, the build-up and the aftermath, and try and find out how a team with fairly low expectations going in, managed to get to the brink of near-immortality. I am also hoping writing this blog and putting it all together will help vanish some personal demons of mine associated with this time period. So even if you don’t like football, just know that you reading this is helping me more than you can imagine.
But before I tell you all about how we all fell in love with our waistcoat-sporting manager, and the “love train” corner tactics, let me set the scene and remind you all how England went into the 2018 World Cup, and maybe we can explain just why the pre-tournament expectations were so low.
After just 67 days in post, and one match in charge, a newspaper sting later and Sam Allardyce was out as England manager. A team already trying to recover from the humiliation of being eliminated from Euro 2016 by Iceland, now had to appoint a new manager after a little over 2 months in charge. With the team in need of a new leader ahead of upcoming matches, the then Under 21s manager Gareth Southgate was parachuted in to take the team on a temporary basis.
Subsequent results from the following 4 matches (2 wins and 2 draws) saw Southgate be officially be appointed full time in November of 2016. This came just 5 months after Southgate had ruled himself out of replacing Roy Hodgson as England boss following the Iceland disaster. And it was very much an “FA man”, an appointment which reeked of the establishment, and Southgate was far from the sort of larger than life person of Allardyce, or even the wily experience of Hodgson.
But… maybe this was what the England team needed? This was a team that had some great young players coming through, many of whom had played under Southgate already. And Southgate knew the international set up well, through his role with the Under 21s. And, let’s be honest, Southgate is probably the least likely of any England manager ever to rattle any media cages or cause The FA any further embarrassment. But nonetheless, the feelings towards the England team from the fans was probably at a lowest point (in terms of optimism and interest levels) that it had ever been.
England’s form going into the 2018 World Cup was something that has become all too familiar in more recent times; sail through a qualifying group with little to no ‘real’ competition, and then falter against the top sides on the international stage. In 2017 England won qualifiers against Lithuania (twice), Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia, and drew a qualifying match against fierce rivals Scotland. In friendly matches they lost away to both France and Germany, before closing out the calendar year with 0-0 draws against both Germany and then Brazil at Wembley. 2018 began with an impressive 1-0 win away to Holland, followed by a 1-1 draw with Italy in the March international break, before they won both their pre-tournament matches against Nigeria and then Costa Rica. The form on paper was good, however the performances didn’t really excite, nor were England expected to conquer all before them come the World Cup proper.
And so, a month out from England’s tournament opener they announced the squad that would be going to the 2018 World Cup. The main headline upon the announcement was the inclusion of a previously uncapped 19 year old defender (wonder whatever did happen to… Trent Alexander-Arnold?)…
There was also a recall for Gary Cahill, but not so lucky was previous England number 1 Joe Hart, and neither was midfielder Jack Wilshere. England manager Gareth Southgate did name 5 players on a standby list (Adam Lallana, Tom Heaton, James Tarkowski, Lewis Cook and Jake Livermore), the official squad list was as follows:
Goalkeepers: Jack Butland (Stoke), Jordan Pickford (Everton), Nick Pope (Burnley).
Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Gary Cahill (Chelsea), Fabian Delph (Manchester City), Phil Jones (Manchester United), Harry Maguire (Leicester), Danny Rose (Tottenham Hotspur), John Stones (Manchester City), Kieran Trippier (Tottenham Hotspur), Kyle Walker (Manchester City), Ashley Young (Manchester United).
Midfielders: Dele Alli (Tottenham Hotspur), Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Jesse Lingard (Manchester United), Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea).
Forwards: Harry Kane (Tottenham), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Jamie Vardy (Leicester), Danny Welbeck (Arsenal).
And so after that, and a couple of fairly straightforward wins in World Cup warm-up matches (2-1 at Wembley against Nigeria, and 2-0 at Elland Road against Costa Rica), it was on to the tournament proper, and England’s group stage opening match against Tunisia.
The most shocking thing to me looking at the England line up for this game, was the fact that Jordan Pickford had only played in friendly matches for England up to this point. Given we are 8 years on and he is STILL England number 1, that stat was pretty wild to me. Once the match got underway, the build-up play from England was generally good, the finishing not so… that was aside from a goal in the 11th minute from leading man Harry Kane. Tunisia did though get back in to the game from the penalty spot, if it was a penalty or not I’ll leave for you to ponder (I was unsure to say the least), but 1-1 it was for the majority of the rest of the match. After a flurry of chances for Jesse Lingard failed to give England the lead once more, the frustration just continued to build… UNTIL… Harry Kane came to the rescue once more in stoppage time, and SOMEHOW England had a win in their opening game of the 2018 World Cup.
Our second group game would be against the lowly Panama. I can’t say I knew a tonne about them as a team, but I can’t pretend I didn’t expect anything but a strong England win. I was not to be disappointed
As soon as England got their first after 8 minutes through John Stones, it was clear that it was a matter of just how many they would get against a very much inferior Panama side. Albeit England were trying to beat an ill-disciplined and downright dirty opponent, further goals from Harry Kane and Jesse Lingard gave England the comfy 3-0 lead they deserved. And it got EVEN BETTER… as Kane added a second successful penalty of the game, and Stones also got his second goal to make it 5-0 at half time. And there was still time for Kane to complete his hat trick in the second half. And although Panama did have chances, and even scored a consolation goal, it was about as dominant a win as you’ll see in a World Cup match (one notable historical exception aside of course).
And so 2 matches in, and England had safely secured their spot in the knockout stages. But as it turns out, it appeared that England going on to finish 1st in the group would present them with a much trickier route to World Cup glory than if they were to finish 2nd (on paper at least). And so off we went to England’s final match of the group stage, along with fellow Last-16 qualifiers Belgium.
Given both teams had already qualified for the last 16, it was simply a matter of who finished 1st and 2nd in the group. And as debate raged on about if it would actually prove beneficial (in terms of a possible route to the final) for whoever did finish 2nd in the group, England and Belgium both made changes to their previous line ups (Jamie Vardy the most notable new inclusion for England). The match was ultimately decided by a wonderful individual goal by Adnan Januzaj, despite chances for Marcus Rashford of England, and many more for Belgium, it finished 1-0, which was pretty amazing given the number of chances spurned.
2nd place in the group it was indeed for England. And now a route to immortality for Gareth Southgate and his side became slightly easier to navigate…
As you can see, Belgium to win football’s ultimate prize, they would need to beat Japan, then likely Brazil, and then ONE of France, Argentina, Portugal or Holland, before they can even think about a maiden World Cup Final… On the other hand, England would need to get past Colombia, ONE of Sweden or Switzerland, before a semi final with Denmark or Croatia or Spain or Russia… Sounds easy, right?
Or so we thought… It was Colombia first up. The nation began to increase their confidence levels in the England side once more… the hype train was about to go full speed ahead…
Despite a very ill-tempered match, largely down to the Colombians, England led right up until a stoppage time equaliser. In to extra time we went, and beyond we would go. It would be that time again, the one we as English football fans had grown to absolutely dread. 1990, 1996, 1998, 2004, 2006, 2012… all tournaments that came to an end for England as a result of a penalty shoot out. To continue their run at this World Cup, England would need to overcome their greatest foe.
It would end up being a night English football fans won’t ever forget…
It was that time again…
Beyond belief levels of emotion. I had wondered if I would ever see England win a tournament match on penalties (in my life time). A true dream come true on this night!
It would end up being Sweden in the Quarters. We had fallen so many times at this stage before. But something felt… different…
And just like that, England were in the WORLD CUP SEMI FINALS. Gareth Southgate hadn’t only made waistcoats into the must-have item of the summer, he also had already taken England closer to winning a major tournament in my entire life, so his legendary status was well secured already in my mind.
But in order for us to make it to the promised land, it would be… Croatia. Not one of your footballing giants, but they had just knocked out former world champions Spain in their quarter final…
It was all going so well (England 1-0 up at half time thanks to a beautiful Trippier free kick, and had chances to extend that lead during a magnificent first half performance, their best of the tournament)… until it wasn’t…
Well… shit…
England had been brave and bold all tournament, but were outdone by the much more street-smart Croatians. We still talk now on what IF Harry Kane had of squared that ball… But for the first time in a LONG time… England were out, but not completely down. The nation believed, and MAYBE, just MAYBE… We COULD see football come home after all…?
We of course had the formalities of a 3rd/4th place play off with Belgium to contend with after. But honestly it was such an afterthought that I didn’t even watch the match… We lost 2-0 for the record.
But England would return home from this tournament with a very different vibe to two years prior. The humiliation of the defeat to Iceland, the management team immediately resigning, and a nation in crisis. Now Gareth Southgate and this evolving group of players could come back with their heads held high, and well and truly top contenders once more at the top of international football. And lets be honest, I am not sure anyone was going to stop that France side from winning the World Cup in 2018, but you never know do you… And sure in the years that followed, Gareth Southgate certainly had his critics as the England manager, me at times included. But one thing that can’t be argued for me, is aside from Sir Alf Ramsey, he’s one of our greatest ever managers. Semi final, runners up, quarter final, runners up. That was his tournament record. Compare that to the tournament runs just before him; last 16, group stage, quarter final, last 16, DIDNT EVEN QUALIFY for Euro 2008! Gareth Southgate took the England team to the next level with a wonderful group of players. But of course, we all are still a bit stung by the Italy loss at Wembley, and the loss to Croatia in the aforementioned World Cup of 2018. We win those two matches, and I think history, and a large portion of the English football fanbase calls for Gareth Southgate to received his knighthood far sooner than he actually did.
So I’ll finish this by saying thank you to the England players of his era, and to Gareth himself for giving me real hope and belief in the football team that means more to me than most things in my life. I will forever be a believer in the hope of football one day coming home, and I don’t even care that we have had to call on someone from the old enemy to try and get us there…
And I wont dwell on things too long, but a few people will know that I have a lot of trauma associated with this World Cup because of some personal stuff that went on during it. And making this blog and revisiting the England matches for the first time since 2018, has been really helpful in overcoming and coping with that trauma. It has been truly a cathartic experience and I am grateful that I am now in a much more positive frame of mind. And now I have little doubt that I will be able to completely embrace and enjoy the World Cup this summer. When super Thomas Tuchel brings us the ultimate prize, and my life as a football fan can finally be complete.
Maybe…
Josh.