England hopes to write happy ending

MOSCOW (AP) — Gareth Southgate and England are ready to face the music.

No other soccer nation dwells on decades of failure quite like the English. Southgate was so demoralized by his penalty kick failure against Germany in the 1996 European Championship semifinals, he avoided The Lightning Seeds “Three Lions,” the team’s official song when it hosted the tournament.

Now the song, with its repeated chorus of “football’s coming home,” is a staple again, No. 5 this week on YouTube UK’s top music videos chart with more than two million views on the day of England’s last match.

“‘Football’s coming home’ is a song that I couldn’t even listen to for 20 years, frankly, so for me it has a slightly different feel,” Southgate said on the eve of England’s World Cup semifinal against Croatia. “But it’s nice to hear people enjoying it again.”

England hasn’t played in the semifinals of a major tournament since Southgate’s penalty kick at Wembley was saved by Andreas Koepke 22 years ago, and Andrea Moeller put the next kick over David Seaman and under the crossbar.

The most-cherished national team memory remains the 1966 World Cup final victory at Wembley over West Germany.

“It was a long time ago, so not too many of us can remember that far back,” said midfielder Jordan Henderson, born in 1990.

With an average age of 26, England is one of the youngest teams at the World Cup.

“We were never quite sure how far this team could go,” Southgate said. “We’re really proud in the style that we’ve played, and that we’ve performed under pressure and dealt with difficult situations.”

Croatia made its only semifinal appearance in 1998, losing 2-1 to host France.