HISTORY MAKER
Manager Southgate is now among elite company as Maguire and Alli sweep aside the stubborn Swedes
AT the end of it all, Gareth Southgate embraced his assistant Steve Holland. Then, quite deliberately, he sought out each and every member of his backroom staff and gave them the same celebratory greeting, one by one.
Only then did he find his way on to the pitch where Jesse Lingard, John Stones and Kyle Walker were dancing a daft jig in front of the England fans. Just that moment was telling; players from rival Manchester clubs usually locked in parochial combat, as comrades in arms.
Then it was Southgate’s turn to take the limelight. He strode towards the fans, clenched his fists and let out a guttural roar as he acknowledged the scale of his achievement.
It didn’t have anything like the drama of the Colombia shoot-out. The football was nothing like the quality presented by Brazil and Belgium. But, make no mistake, in the Samara Arena by the River Volga in a far flung corner of Russia around 2,500 miles from home, an England team made history.
A collection of players to whom few gave any serious consideration as contenders when they left home last month, will contest a World Cup semi-final on Wednesday night in Moscow. It will be only the third time Englishmen have done so since the FA deigned to appear at this tournament in 1950.
A young team apparently devoid of ego or heavyweight stars a month ago go down as one of England’s best, surpassing a golden generation who could never make this step.
A deceptively determined man who was parachuted into this job amid chaos 22 months ago, Southgate joins Alf Ramsey and Bobby Robson as the only managers of the men’s team to guide their players to this stage of a World Cup.
Southgate considered that fact last night and conceded that it is difficult to place in perspective.
‘It is a privilege,’ was the best he could muster. What is truly enticing is the prospect that he might go one better than Bobby, a man who counselled him 12 years ago when he was struggling to find his feet as Middlesbrough manager. He has come a long way since then.
Last night he fielded complimentary questions from Brazilian journalists about the revolution he has overseen and queries from the Chinese about how the national team now matched the quality of the Premier League. His team has travelled far.
‘I sat them down 18 months ago and explained that any success they have with England would be much bigger than anything they could have with their clubs.’ He allowed himself a wry smile. ‘I think that is starting to register now,’ he observed.
And Harry Maguire is a secret no more. The world is awake to his talents, which go far beyond his headed opening goal.
‘He’s getting his bonce on everything,’ smiled Southgate, causing FIFA’s translators to scramble for an English dictionary of slang.
‘He’s been a giant in both boxes. I was certain this was a stage he could play at. I’m not sure he’s always believed that. I remember saying to him after he made his debut last year: “OK, why don’t we try and be as good as we might be now?” His use of the ball has been as good as any centre half here.’
Jordan Henderson controlled midfield and Raheem Sterling buzzed with creative energy: if only that goal would come. And there was another hero. Jordan Pickford, who made his England debut in November, has grown, figuratively if not literally out here, and his riposte to questions about his height has been perfectly timed.
Sweden were extraordinarily limited and initially unambitious.
Yet it still took three wonderful saves from Pickford to get over the line. That the game was devoid of tension by the end was down to the goalkeeper.
Though Sweden were poor, they had disposed of Holland and Italy in qualifying and got rid of Germany at the group stages. Less fortunate England managers have been photoshopped into turnips after facing the Swedes so the fact that this team made light work of it was a testament to their resolve.
In a stadium far from full and in a game which early on was devoid of real quality, it was curiously hard to summon the tension requisite for a game of this magnitude.
England started tentatively, betraying suffocating nerves. There was no high press, no panache. At times the game resembled a Championship pre-season friendly.
It took 18 minutes for England to find their feet with Kieran Trippier finding Sterling, who beat two men to tee up Harry Kane, who shot wide.
It was a sign of fluency returning to England’s game.
Yet it took a familiar route to break Swedish resistance. England’s first corner on 30 minutes saw the usual suspects — Maguire, John Stones, Henderson and Kane — amassed in the box.
The only variation in England’s routine was that Dele Alli and Sterling joined them initially. As Ashley Young struck the ball, they scattered and it was enough to confuse Sweden because, in the melee, Maguire was lost. His eyes never left the ball. Poor Emil Forsberg was left trying to outjump him but Maguire rose and directed home a magnificent header.
It didn’t quite bring the release England yearned but there was a better finish to the half when Sterling broke free only to be denied by Robin Olsen. By the time he turned to shoot again, Andreas Granqvist was there to block.
Nevertheless, Sweden presented the first sign of danger in the second half. Ludwig Augustinsson swung in a cross on 47 minutes and Marcus Berg rose above Young to head goalwards.
Only the excellence of Pickford, leaping left, prevented an equaliser. It was wholly out of context for the game up to that point. Young’s free-kick on 52 minutes found Maguire at the back post and his header across was met with a spectacular, if imperfectlyexecuted, bicycle kick by Sterling. But there was a patience and craft to England’s play.
When Trippier had the chance to swing another cross in on 58 minutes he opted for a more subtle cutback to Lingard.
He, in turn, dinked the ball over the Swedish defence for the run from Dele Alli, a ploy which Southgate had been so keen to unleash. No Swede picked him up so his was a fairly simple task to head home. Half the team celebrated with Alli and, fittingly, half with Lingard for the precise cross. Within minutes, Sweden broke down the left and when Berg touched the ball back to Viktor Claesson a goal seemed inevitable. He struck it well enough but Pickford produced another outstanding save, diving to his right to parry and Henderson blocked the follow-up.
Claesson burst down the left again on 72 minutes and crossed for Berg, the centre forward taking a touch and striking a rising shot which Pickford again met superbly, touching it over. It was a save that would break Sweden. Their race was run.
England’s, thrillingly and unimaginably, is far from done.