( ) ..BUT IT WON’T BE COMING HOME NOW
away the disappointment. Whether they can seize on the positivity and momentum which has taken a team to the semi-final remains to be seen.
But the danger is they let it slip. It is hard to swallow because it was all there for England, from the moment Kieran Trippier put them ahead with a brilliant fifthminute free-kick, curled into the top corner from 25 yards.
Croatia keeper Danijel Subasic stayed almost rooted to the spot while every England fan in the stadium and everyone back home jumped for joy. Suddenly it looked on.
That should have been the springboard for victory.
Croatia, after all, were the ones that were supposed to be shattered having been pushed to extra time and penalties in their previous two games.
But they pushed on and, after they equalised, were always going to be the winners. They had more energy and more mental strength.
It was hard because England had chances. They will know this was a game they should have won. Harry Kane looked spent, it looked a game too far for the captain and yet he had a brilliant chance only to be denied by Subasic and then he hit the follow-up against the post.
England were much the better team in the first half. Raheem Sterling ran the Croatia defence ragged and Jesse Lingard and Harry Maguire wasted big chances.
But after half-time, you could see the spirit in the Croatians rise. Right-back Sime Vrsaljko put over a brilliant cross, Ivan Perisic lost Kyle Walker and then as, Trippier went to head clear, Perisic stuck his boot in where it hurts to divert home for a 68th-minute equaliser.
Perisic could have won it four minutes later but his shot crashed against the post.
England keeper Jordan Pickford made a brave save to deny Mario Mandzukic.
But the game slipped into extra-time, Southgate tried to change it with substitutions but he could not change the momentum. In the end, they ran out of legs as Trippier hobbled off and England finished with 10 men.
Then the real heartbreaker came after 109 minutes. Walker’s halfhearted clearance was headed back into the box, John Stones put his first foot wrong all night and allowed Mandzukic to slip in and smash the ball into the far corner.
It was all over for England. No way back. Nothing left in the tank.