England fail to spark as hopes
HALFWAY to the greatest night in modern English football histor y. Halfway to a complete performance, half way to proving that they could beat top sides, with young English players passing the ball and opening them up. It was half way to Sunday’s World Cup f inal. Halfway, and so far from being enough.
Those facts, or rather that one huge fact, pulls the emotions in both directions af ter England’s long painful night at the Luzhniki. They were 22 minutes away from making it back here on Sunday, before Ivan Perisic grabbed it away.
Gareth Southgate’s braves threw ever y thing they had at Croatia and they lost to a better team. Here, in the biggest game these players will ever play, England produced one half of excellent football, the best that they have played all tournament. They were fast, incisive, assertive and confident. A better version of themselves, of the Southgate identity, than they have been so far.
England took the lead, deser ved it, and held it for more than an hour. Kieran Trippier’s stunning free-kick allowed the Three Lions to truly believe that their dream was on the verge of becoming a reality.
They had chances to double their advantage, the best from Harry Kane towards the end of the f irst half. Had they scored a second goal then who knows what would have happened next. Maybe that would have given them enough of a footing to sur vive the Croatian wave that eventually broke over them. But we will never know.
This will inevitably be compared to Turin 1990 and Wembley 1996 — those are judgements for the next few days — but there was a characteristic feel to the way the game went af ter England’s strong f irst half. This team has been true to its pledge to write its own stor y this summer, but what they wrote read like something we have read before.
Think back to the star t of the second half, when England were 1- 0 up against a ragged Croatia side who looked off the pace and, frankly, out of their depth at times. Especially with Raheem Sterling running at them and space opening up. But from that point on, Croatia succeeded in playing the game they wanted to play. Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic star ted to take control and Jordan Henderson, Dele Alli and Jesse Lingard looked more legg y and more limited with ever y long minute that passed. England still had the lead, but they no longer had control.
It was sickening but not wholly surprising when, halfway through the second half, Perisic was sharp enough to pull Croatia level. England
After Extra Time
CROATIA: Subasic, Vrsaljko, Lovren, Vida, Henderson (Dier, 97 mins), Lingard, Young Strinic (Pivaric, 95 mins), Rakitic, Bro(Rose 91), Sterling (Rashford, 74 mins), zovic, Rebic (Kramaric, 101 mins), Modric Kane.
(Badelj, 118 mins), Perisic, Mandzukic Unused subs: Butland, Welbeck, Cahill, (Corluka, 115 mins). Jones, Delph, Loftus-Cheek, Alexander-ArUnused subs: Livakovic, Kovacic, Jedvaj, nold, Pope.
Bradaric, Caleta-Car, Pjaca, Lovre Kalinic. Referee: Cuneyt Cakir (Turkey) ENGLAND: Pickford, Walker (Vardy, 112 Man of the match: Ivan Perisic mins), Stones, Maguire, Trippier, Alli, Match rating: 8/10
never truly recovered.
By the end of 90 minutes they were desperately chasing Croatia’s black shir ts around, hanging on in a game they thought was all theirs. By extra-time it was almost all Croatia and early in the second period of it, Mario Mandzukic killed England off. In truth it could have ended much sooner: Perisic had t wo good chances to win it before 90 minutes — which would
at least have brought a swifter end to the agony.
What made it all so painful is that long before all that, almost three hours before the team were scattered and slumped all over the pitch, England had star ted in the best possible way. They wanted to begin fast, aggressive and dangerous, and they did. They knew that a long drawn- out game would favour Croatia — of course they were right — so they needed to get in front as soon as they could.
By scoring so early, England hoped they had removed the possibility of a long, slow passing game, although in truth they had just delayed its onset.
England conceded a sickening equaliser against Colombia but this was worse, 22 minutes away from a World Cup f inal. And they took it as badly as you would expect them to, as all that unity, trust and shape melted instantly away. The end of normal time was the most painful period imaginable for Southgate’s men, as ever y minute they were inches away from being knocked out by Perisic and Rebic.
It took some luck just for England to make it through to extra-time. Something had to change so on came Danny Rose and Eric Dier. The latter even forced a corner, Stones’ header was cleared off the line. Some