SUMMER Southgate and his heroes do the impossible – winning over the public
BELGIUM ENGLAND
FINISHING fourth is hardly the stuff of legend – but at least England are no longer the nowhere men.
Just two years after the Three Lions reached their nadir with a humiliating Euro exit at the hands of Iceland, they produced their best World Cup performance since 1990.
There will be the usual cynical observations about how Gareth Southgate’s men got lucky with the draw in Russia – and every time they faced an elite team they were indeed beaten.
In fact, England were defeated in three of their seven games. They have never lost more at a World Cup.
But after goals by Thomas Meunier and Eden Hazard ensured Belgium secured their best-ever finish, Southgate was honest enough to admit that this is no Golden Generation.
Adventure
“We’ve finished in the final four, but we’re not a top-four team yet,” said the England boss. “Against the very best teams, we’ve come up short.
“But we’ve had a wonderful adventure and some experiences which will stand this group of players in good stead for the future.
“I couldn’t have asked any more from the players through the seven weeks we have been together.
“This was our seventh game in a short period of time and we’ve had incredible physical demands and emotional demands on the least experienced team in the tournament.
“We can talk about having a more comfortable route to the semi-final – and for sure we did – but we’ve had those routes in the past and not got there.
“The players have achieved an equal high in terms of tournament performance that an English team has achieved abroad.” Perhaps Southgate’s biggest achievement has been how he has seduced the nation to fall head over heels again for the team that represents them. It really has been a summer of love.
And, in a way, this meaningless game illustrated why.
Less than 72 hours after England had suffered extra-time heartbreak at the hands of Croatia, they gave Roberto Martinez’s brilliant Belgians a game.
Remember, this was a team that had moved to within 22 minutes of the World Cup Final. Belgium were a class apart in terms of talent and technique.
And when Meunier swept them into a fourth-minute lead – arriving ahead of Danny Rose at the far post to score after his fellow wing-back Nacer Chadli had served up a delicious cross from the left – it looked destined to be a long afternoon.
Yet England hung on – and aided hugely by Romelu Lukaku’s poor first touch and the half-time introduction of the livewire duo Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard, they even threatened to extend their tournament by an extra 30 minutes.
It said everything that the 109.64km they ground out in the broiling Russian heat put their opponents in the shade.
But as England have discovered, games at this level are decided by fine margins.
Eric Dier thought he had levelled 20 minutes from time when he exchanged passes with Lingard and lifted a clever shot over Thibaut Courtois.
But then Toby Alderweireld somehow got back to scoop the ball off the line.
Disappointed
It was left to Hazard to demonstrate the finisher’s art 10 minutes later, beating Jordan Pickford with a low strike into the corner after Kevin De Bruyne’s pass had left Phil Jones floundering.
Southgate said: “I thought we played really well in the second half and at times we had them on the ropes.
“We had one cleared off the line and then the second goal killed us.
“The lads couldn’t have given any more. We wanted to finish on a high and we are disappointed we haven’t won the game.
“We’ve closed the gap to the best teams, but this shows again that there is still room for improvement.”