Gareth’s restored the pride but it’s yet more heartache

IT’S NOT coming home after all.

The World Cup Final and ultimate shot at immortality was within England’s grasp, but the biggest prize in football will now go to either France or Croatia.

This morning millions of people are waking up to much, much more than the mother of all hangovers and clothes stinking of booze.

That’s because the headache will clear, but the pain of seeing England lose another semi-final will never ease. It will burn, burn and then burn some more.

There is an entire generation of fans who weren’t even born the last time England suffered heartbreak like this.

That was back in 1990 in Turin when Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle missed from the spot, Germany marched on to the final and Paul Gascoigne shed the tears of a whole nation.

Those fortunate to be under the age of 35 didn’t have to watch the drama unfold and live through it like the rest of us did.

But now they know how it feels. Now they know how much it hurts. Now they know what it’s like to have a pot of gold dangled in front of you and then have it cruelly snatched away.

Let’s make one thing clear. What England have achieved in recent weeks at Russia 2018 has been thrilling, exhilarating and refreshing.

Gareth Southgate and his fearless Lions have restored our faith and pride in a football team ridiculed and derided for decades.

Southgate has dragged the team from the gutter it found itself in following the shambolic events of Brazil 2014 and then Euro 2016.

Dare we remember, but at the last World Cup England crashed out after two games and then in France, we lost to a nation with more volcanoes than professional footballers in the shape of Iceland.

Angels

The improvement that Southgate has masterminded has been mind-boggling and the future of the national team is in safe hands.

But right now, it all feels mind-numbing, not mind-boggling.

To coin a phrase from someone who knew a thing or two about football, this wasn’t a matter of life and death. It was more important than that, not least to the thousands of souls who had flown into Moscow from England.

This was footballing angels in white against the men in black and it was Southgate’s men who found themselves knocking on the door of heaven for almost 70 minutes, thanks to Kieran Trippier’s fifth-minute free-kick.

England should have been home and hosed before half-time but their dominance wasn’t rewarded and when Ivan Perisic equalised with just 20 minutes left, the Luzhniki Stadium became a cauldron of unbearable tension.

Even someone of Southgate’s gifts cannot shed the curse that returns to break our hearts and when Mario Mandzukic darted past a static John Stones in extratime, it had struck once again.

Southgate lost a semi-final as a player and now has the unwanted double no man should ever be burdened with.

Least of all someone as thoroughly decent as him. Someone who, like all of his squad, has been a positive and dedicated ambassador for a nation struggling with its global image right now.

In the end, the best team won. We dared to dream and those dreams turned into the ultimate nightmare, because never again will England get a better chance to reach a World Cup final.

There will be no open-top bus parade for Southgate’s players and nor should there be. Those are reserved for winners and, despite all the progress we have made, England remain the masters of glorious failure.

JEREMY CROSS