World Cup 2018: England have regrets of what could have been, but this may just be the platform for the future they need
Gareth Southgate’s side will know just how big an opportunity slipped through their fingers, but just like Germany in 2006, this can be the catalyst to even greater things
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Your support makes all the difference.As much credit as England and Gareth Southgate deserve for this surging summer, and as much as they’ve changed the very perception of the team, that does not mean it shouldn’t be tinged with a significant degree of regret.
The bottom line is this: this was the best chance the country has had to win the World Cup since 1966.
And that’s not just down to the fact it was such an open tournament, with so many surprises, that could have ended with one match – where single moments can have immortal consequence, regardless of multiple levels of quality difference – against a France that still seem to play within themselves.
England should of course be praised for pushing themselves to the limit in giving them the chance where they can feel such regret, but that’s the other side.
There are ultimately so many elements of this semi-final defeat that will leave them wondering.
They were 1-0 up against Croatia after over an hour of the semi-final, and that to a Croatia that frankly looked exhausted and out of ideas.
This was ultimately down to one problem with Southgate’s system, although it should be remembered that this was always a pay-off to a system that still got them further than they might have. The constant struggle to score in open play here translated into a galling inability to kill off Croatia when they had them on the rack, when Dejan Lovren and his defence looked frightened of every run forward.
Then there was Harry Kane. One of the most reliable goalscorers in world football, and likely this World Cup’s top scorer, missed the most presentable chance of the game. That ultimately laid the foundation for one of England’s best performers, John Stones, to get caught out.
It’s difficult to be too critical of the players in such situations because it was one of those epic semi-finals where they had been pushed to the limit but that’s the other big question, maybe the big regret.
There was no need for it to be pushed to the limit. England had the game in check but badly lost control.
Having failed to push home when in the ascendancy, they then failed to show any kind of game-management.
It meant everything turned after Ivan Perisic’s brilliant goal, a moment that England had ultimately unnecessarily left themselves open to.
It also meant one more galling reality, from a summer that had seemed set up to be a fantasy: despite how far they got, England still lost to the first properly good side they played. Same as it ever was, even as it felt different.
In a World Cup, their more workmanlike and mechanical approach couldn’t completely match up to true football magic – and that’s what Croatia possess. That’s maybe what’s needed to really elevate a side. Mario Mandzukic is meanwhile obviously player who rises to elevated occasions, in a way some of England’s younger players need to learn to do. Dele Alli could have done more, while Jesse Lingard and Eric Dier were pushed to their limits.
That is why any regrets should not be too dominant, either.
Given the extreme progress that has been made with youth production in England, it is possible that this will be like Germany’s 2006 campaign.
A creditable side that is not quite the product of that progress had an admirable tournament where they just fell short, but where foundations might have been laid. Some ghosts have certainly been buried beneath those foundations, not least from penalty shootouts and a previously chronic problem in getting past the quarter-finals.
That has changed, that’s why this has been such a positive campaign.
It’s just that there are still some negatives, and they could still have gone further. That’s not totally down to Croatian quality.
The dream couldn’t quite cope with reality.
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