Tottenham boys continue to lead by example and prove doubters wrong
England finally won a World Cup penalty shootout, and surprising to many it was the Tottenham boys who showed nerves of steel to put them into the last eight.
Whether through dodgy lasagna or late collapses Tottenham always seems to find a way to fall short. So much so that the adjective ‘Spursy,’ defined by the Urban dictionary as ‘to bottle it,’ was coined to characterize its constant narrative of under achievement.
Even in Spurs’ new era under Mauricio Pochettino it continues to disillusion on the big occasions. After a couple of seasons of ‘putting the pressure on,’ it lost to Juventus despite dominating both legs of the tie and then fell to Manchester United in an FA Cup semi-final contested in its adopted home.
Needless to say many feared for the worst when Gareth Southgate named a squad littered with Tottenham players. The inevitable doom-mongers were out in force, led by ex-Arsenal player Tony Adams who stated:
"“I’m really worried about these Tottenham players. I don’t think they know how to win.”"
Pochettino’s men step up
But in a World Cup penalty shootout, the most high-pressure atmosphere football can offer, it was the Tottenham boys who stepped up.
Unsurprisingly, Harry Kane was the first to strut forward and smash home his fourth spot kick of the tournament. And you just know Poch was watching on proudly as Kieran Trippier and Eric Dier followed suit to coolly convert past Arsenal’s David Ospina.
Both Trippier and Dier have attracted further praise for stating they stepped up to atone for errors in the game.
Dier said he ‘had to score,’ referring to a glorious chance he squandered to put Colombia to bed in regular time. While, Trippier added to an already swelling influx of acclaim by, rather unduly, taking the blame for Yerry Mina’s late equalizer.
"“I thought we played really well in the first half and for their goal, it was a mistake by myself. I thought he was going to head it straight in, but I could not adjust when he headed it down, I was gutted.”"
England’s fortunes no surprise to captain Harry
Ironically, it is a Spurs player that has instilled the winning mentality in this young English side.
Lager in hand and drunk on hype the nation now collectively sings Baddiel and Skinner’s ‘Three Lions’ with genuine optimism, but rewind just a month and no one eyed anything more than a dignified exit in the latter stages, except for Harry that is.
Since the day Harry got the captain’s strap he hasn’t shied away from claiming he can lead his nation to glory:
"“I believe we can [win it] and that is what we want to try and do. Anything else is not good enough.”"
He was also far from coy about his own chances of winning the Golden Boot, boldly talking up a duel with Christiano Ronaldo after the Real Madrid man kicked off the tournament with a hat-trick.
Such a mentality is infectious in a young and hungry squad and was evident as England overcame a roguish and stubborn Colombian side. And unlike so many English teams in the past kept its nerve to finally break the country’s shootout duck!
As Kane’s head superimposed on Bobby Moore’s body does the rounds on social media, the possibility of the side making its own iconic photos in Luzhniki gets ever closer.
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And if England do go on to lift the World Cup then the 2018 team will be as synonymous to Spurs as the heroes of ’66 were to West Ham.