England vs Croatia: Why the memory of Kieran Trippier’s redundant World Cup free-kick will last even in defeat

The goal seems a little meaningless now, lost in the hectic fog of the night, but it represents one of England’s greatest triumphs in Russia: that ability to make unbridled joy ripple out

In that split second when it all happened, when the Croatian wall turned to see, when Danijel Subasic came back to earth empty handed, when the net bulged and Kieran Trippier tore across the Luzhniki, a version of the same few words flitted through English minds, while wide-eyed and incredulous: it really is coming home. If England’s World Cup can be broken down into a rollercoaster of belief and doubt, of hope and despair, then that moment was its terrifying peak, when the wall of inhibitions melted away and the possibilities seemed endless.

Right then it seemed apt that it was Trippier, a career built on patience and perseverance gone full circle. His first professional goal, for Barnsley against Leeds United in 2011, was a curling free-kick from 25 yards; his second was also a curling free-kick from 25 yards. You can watch that one on YouTube; as Tripper prepares to shoot he receives sage advice from a fan behind the camera – “Just on target, low and f***ing hard” – before sweeping the ball over the wall and into the top corner.

Seven years later his first England goal was identical. The 27-year-old’s career has been a slow burn – promise at Barnsley, improvement at Burnley, patience at Tottenham – and as his team-mates piled on top of him on Wednesday night, a thought came to mind that this was probably another of Gareth Southgate’s careful plans coming to fruition, to keep quiet the best right foot in English football just to unfurl it in all its glory in the fifth minute of a World Cup semi-final.

The goal seems a little meaningless now, lost in the hectic fog of the night, but it embodied the greatest triumph of this team’s World Cup, the ability to make unbridled joy ripple out from one player’s boot or glove or forehead to the parks and pubs of England. No one knew it would ultimately be for nothing, just as no one knew how far England would go when Harry Kane saved the day against Tunisia, or when the goals rained down on Panama, or when Eric Dier’s penalty beat David Ospina’s fingertips. Like all those moments, the world felt limitless.

The goal was the final, liberating vindication of Southgate’s work. Trippier was only in the team because Southgate broke the mould 12 months ago, shedding a traditional four-man defence to play wing-backs and moving Kyle Walker into a back three which raised eyebrows at the time. Every England player on the pitch in Moscow has benefitted from Southgate’s management in some way, and none more so than Tripper, whose right foot was weaponised so effectively to leave his name among Neymar, Kevin De Bruyne and Luka Modric as one of this World Cup’s most creative players.

Kieran Trippier scores scores his team’s first goal (Getty Images)

It is a seemingly infallible right foot, one which doesn’t smash straight through the ball nor gently wrap round it but instead finds some impossible sweet spot in between. Trippier’s set-pieces have consistently found their way on to throbbing English foreheads, while his effortless volley-cross midway through the second half was one the best pieces of technical skill England produced.

You could conclude from the volume of chances he created that England are over-reliant on corners and free-kicks, and lack creative spark elsewhere in the team. The stats say they mustered only six shots on target from open play throughout the tournament and it is tempting to wonder whether Gareth Southgate was wholly satisfied with the output from his front four, despite their obvious talents, and to consider what difference Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Adam Lallana might have made had they been fit.

Those are questions for another time and perhaps that is the most exciting thing of all right now: that there is another time, that there might be more to come, that this is a manager coaching in his first World Cup just as many of his players were experiencing theirs. They will be back. History may look back at Russia 2018 as the tournament when Southgate earned himself the time and trust to build an era of consistently realised potential.

As a fan that is all you can really ask: the chance to imagine potential. Just as it was the hope that killed you all those times before, it was the hope that made you feel alive this time. It was the hope that Trippier’s free-kick conveyed: a blissful moment when it felt like anything was possible, when it felt like these players would bring football home. Alas it was not to be, but in the end all sport becomes is a collection of memories, and the sheer joy of Trippier’s free-kick stirred a memory which will endure even in defeat.