It’s pretty hard being an England fan at times. 56 years of hurt have passed since we last won a major title, World or European, despite coming close all too often.
Penalty shoot out losses in the 1990 World Cup semi final and the 1996 European Championships semi-final scarred a nation, and the near misses have been coming with agonising regularity over the past few seasons. Another heartbreaking defeat, this time to France in the World Cup 2022 quarter-final has the Three Lions licking their wounds again.
To reach the 2018 World Cup semi-final was a great achievement for head coach Gareth Southgate but, after going ahead against Croatia thanks to a Kieran Trippier free kick, the ultimate defeat seemed and felt like a missed opportunity. But the worst of all disappointments came in the 2020 European final, when England faced a past-its-best Italy side who had battled their way to the final despite being totally outplayed by Spain in the semis. Again, and this time in front of a passionate home crowd, England went ahead but they allowed Italy back into the game, and by the time the penalty shootout came the Lions were already beaten.
The pre-tournament World Cup 2022 betting odds, here at SBOTOP, rated England at somewhere between fourth and fifth, possible semi-finalists and likely quarter finalists… and that is where they exited the 2022 showcase. But, again, it seems like a case of what might have been, with France missing some key players and Brazil out of the tournament, a winnable semi-final against surprise package Morocco awaited the victor.
Which was not England…again.
Southgate has done a very good job at the helm and has won more finals games (11) than most; but he probably has the best group of young players at his disposal that England has seen in quite some time. And it won’t get any easier to shake off the habit of losing the big games. England have played well throughout this tournament and have made a fine contribution to the World Cup 2022 highlights but, just like in 2018 and 2020, the minute they met a tough and experienced opponent the Lions were tamed.
The manager has hinted that he might walk away from the job and, while he has overseen admirable development in his young players, Southgate hasn’t yet been able to turn them into winners; and the trend of semi to final to quarter is difficult to read much into. In the aftermath of England’s loss Southgate said: “I’ve found large parts of the last 18 months difficult. For everything that I’ve loved about the last few weeks, I still have how things have been for 18 months. What’s been said and what’s been written, the night at Wolves, there’s lots of things in my head that’s really conflicted at the moment.”
The night in question was a dismal performance from the Three Lions, losing 4-0 to Hungary at Molineux as they suffered relegation to the Nations League B section. And, in the run-up to the World Cup, the team had gone six competitive matches without a victory.
Southgate will make his decision when he is ready. But speculation in the UK press is already mounting around, should he go, who will step in to manage the next European campaign. Thomas Tuchel, Mauricio Pochettino and Brendan Rodgers are all in the picture but, for now, the hard working Southgate remains at the helm.
On the pitch…
The Three Lions have a good young squad and a healthy smattering of Manchester City players so there are proven winners within the group, but another man who has a lot of soul-searching to do is captain and star striker Harry Kane. Nobody doubts Kane’s ability and passion; he’s one of the very best players in the world and he leads by example. But he suffered the cruellest of blows against France, missing the penalty which would have taken the game to extra time; and England were playing some great attacking football.
Kane was understandably gutted, saying: “We’ve given it everything and it’s come down to a small detail which I take responsibility for. There’s no hiding from it, it hurts and it’ll take some time to get over it but that’s part of sport.” It won’t have helped the Spurs man to see the France players celebrating his miss wildly, Kylian Mbappe laughing and former Arsenal player Olivier Giroud gleefully twisting the knife.
Football is a cruel game.
The pressure on Kane to convert his second spot kick of the game was immense and maybe too much for England’s great goalscorer. The Three Lions need him, at the age of 29, to lead the line for the next two competitions. And they might just take note of the transformation in England’s cricket team since they changed their skipper.
Prolific batsman Joe Root handed the responsibility to Ben Stokes and now England cricket is dominant in all three formats of the game, while Root is back to his best form.
Food for thought.
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