England pain goes on

MOSCOW — A young and daring England made millions of fans believe the World Cup was “coming home” but old traits of failed campaigns returned at the wrong time to see a historic opportunity to reach a first World Cup final for 52 years slip away.

A long night in Moscow on Wednesday, that ended in a 2-1 semi-final defeat to Croatia after extratime, could not have started better for the Three Lions.

Kieran Trippier curled home a fifth minute freekick that would have made his idol David Beckham proud.

It was also the ninth of England's 12 goals in Russia that came from a set-piece.

Dead balls were just part of meticulous attention to detail from manager Gareth Southgate and his backroom staff that had seen England surpass all expectations to reach the last four for the first time since 1990.

Ultimately, though, Southgate will reflect on what can be done to improve England's creativity from open play to build on the progress of the past four weeks at Euro 2020, when the semi-finals and final will be played on home soil at Wembley.

The man England would have wanted to get a chance for once fluffed his lines when the tournament's top scorer Harry Kane shot too close to Danijel Subasic and then fired the rebound off the post midway through the first half.

That proved to be a turning point that will leave England fans wondering what might have been.