The acceptable face of England’s World Cup run
Southgate has made the English team likeable...that doesn’t mean I’m supporting their bid for glory
IT’S coming home. Three words to give most Scotsmen the dry boak.
Cards on the table here. I can’t bring myself to support England in the World Cup ... ever. Why? I am Scottish. End of.
It’s not because of some deep-rooted hatred of the English. It’s just rivalry.
Why can’t England just enjoy the moment though? No sooner had Eric Dier stroked home the winning penalty against Colombia to set up a clash against Sweden and ITV commentator Clive Tyldesley was at it again.
“By the time England face Sweden in the quarter-final of the World Cup two of Uruguay, France, Belgium and Brazil will already be on the way home ... bring it on!”
England should underestimate Sweden at their peril. After all it was Scandinavian opposition in Iceland who put paid to Roy Hodgson’s side at Euro 2016.
The Three Lions are already plotting who they are going to meet in the semis with either Croatia and Russia lying in wait.
But they’d do well to remember this is a Swedish team who did for Holland in the qualifiers. Then took out Italy over two legs in the play-offs before seeing off holders Germany in the group stage.
I get that the English are becoming over excited about winning the World Cup. If anyone has the right to savour it all it’s head coach Gareth Southgate.
He was made the scapegoat during Euro 96 when his missed penalty against the Germans cost England a place in the Final.
Bearing in mind when Southgate stepped up that night, while others didn’t, he had only taken one penalty in his career for Crystal Palace – and missed.
It pains me to say this but I actually quite like Southgate. He seems like a decent guy. Although this tweet by an English fan rather wonderfully sums him up.
“We salute you Gareth Southgate. You mild-mannered, waistcoat-wearing, self-deprecating, modest, articulate,
calm, sensible, measured, dignified, tidy-bearded f ***** g beauty.”
Call it poetic justice, call it fate but there was something beautiful about Southgate becoming the first English boss to win a World Cup shootout.
Only the hardest of Scottish hearts would have denied him his penalties redemption more than two decades on from his darkest England moment.
Nobody has worked harder than Southgate to unite the English team and their notorious media to work for the common goal – lifting the famous gold trophy on July 15.
What irritated me more was his response to being asked for the umpteenth time about Euro 96. “It will never be off my back, it will live with me forever. Hopefully this will give belief to the generations of players who follow.”
Now that is a real touch of class from the Englishman and there is no easy way of saying this but Southgate has made the England team likeable again. That is no mean feat.
He also looks like a man on a crusade. By turning his own personal trauma into a life lesson and using it as an inspiration to lead his nation to World Cup glory.
If football really does come home and England do the unthinkable it would be hard not to feel some sort of happiness for Southgate but not many others.
So here is a memo to Clive Tydlesley, Glenn Hoddle, Ian Wright, Gary Neville, Gary Lineker et al who have lost the plot so much they’ve no IKEA what’s going on.
“Kom An” or “Kom Igen.” That’s Swedish for “Bring It On”. Football has not come home just yet lads.
He’s using his own personal trauma as an inspiration to lead his nation to glory