Our World Cup days seem like another lifetime so let’s call a truce and let the English wallow in their hype (don’t worry, they won’t win)

So let’s grit our collective teeth and try our best not to be too churlish about it. Yes, there will most probably come a moment or 10 during the next four weeks when it becomes impossible to keep our jealousy and resentment in check but when these urges do inevitably come to the surface, take a deep breath, suck it up and they will pass soon enough.

It’s been so long since we earned a place at one of these events we have long since given up the right to take it personally. It’s time to let go.

In any case the chances are they won’t win it.

Yes, Southgate has some quality operators in his squad and if Harry Kane gets in among the goals in the opening two Group G matches against Tunisia and Panama they may also have a match winner with serious momentum on his side going into the knockout stages.

That would make them dangerous but Kane won’t be able to conquer the world on his own.

He’ll have help from Dele Alli, Raheem Sterling and Marcus Rashford but it’s at the very core of England’s team where Southgate’s biggest problems lie.

If they couldn’t win one of these things with Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Paul Scholes and David Beckham in midfield what chance do they have with Jordan Henderson, Eric Dier, Fabian Delph and Ruben LoftusCheek? It can’t happen. It’s the rules.

They’re all fine players but they are not world beaters and that’s what Southgate will require them to be if he is to deliver England’s dream.

Ultimately, Southgate himself may prove to be something of a chink in England’s armour.

As much as he is being lauded for bringing this young squad together the bottom line is he lacks experience and managerial clout.

One of these days the hapless FA will stumble across a manager who really is qualified for the position and capable of building a side which actually can mount a credible challenge at an event like this. But it won’t be Southgate. Not this time.

So let them enjoy the rollercoaster ride ahead and let’s wish them the very best of British because eventually they will be eliminated when the big guns are rolled out in the latter stages.

It looks likely England, should they make it as far as the quarterfinals, will come into direct contact with either Germany or Brazil.

If they were to somehow come through such a meeting and make it into the last four, Scotland might have to consider pulling down the shutters for the rest of the summer. Only then will it be appropriate to resort to fullblown panic. Not a moment before.

The French look a great deal better equipped to mount a challenge having allowed Portugal to bore them into submission in Paris two years ago before Cristiano Ronaldo ran away with their European crown.

They reached that final on home soil despite a lack of world-class firepower. This time France will choose between Barcelona’s Ousmane Dembele, £53million Liverpool target Nabil Fekir and PSG golden boy Kylian Mbappe. All of which represents some serious upgrades all round.

The Germans too look set to hang around a while, as they always seem to do. The defending champions are so well tooled up they couldn’t find a place in the squad for Manchester City’s Leroy Sane which tells its own story.

Only four years ago they were sweeping their way to the big one having blitzed seven goals past Brazil in the semi-final – a result from which the South Americans have yet to fully recover.

They should not be so readily dismissed this time though. Not with Real Madrid full-back Marcelo, Man Utd new boy Fred, Barcelona’s Coutinho and his former pal at Liverpool, Roberto Firmino, lining up alongside Neymar.

Just the sight of those shimmering yellow shirts at a World Cup finals is enough to mesmerise all who behold it. We should know.It used to be us.