Southgate and his young Lions reached the Semifinals in Russia only to be sent packing by a classy Croatia side – how will their tournament be remembered?
When the competition in Russia kicked off at the start of June, very few England supporters could have predicted they would reach the final week with a chance to compete in the World Cup Final standing before them.
Gareth Southgate and his men created a wave of optimism which grew with each passing game and engulfed an entire nation.
‘It’s coming home’ may have started out as a tongue in cheek phrase, but it quickly became one filled with genuine belief.
England did what the so-called ‘Golden Generation’ failed to do for so many years, by mounting a genuine challenge for the World’s most coveted sporting trophy.
They had on average the youngest side in the whole tournament, which turned out to be an advantage rather than a hindrance as the players exhibited a fearless attitude throughout.
However, the 2-1 defeat to Croatia on Wednesday night raised genuine questions over just how successful their World Cup should be considered.
- Was England one of the best sides in Russia?
- Did they have an easy run and fortunate draw?
- Did they simply maximise their strengths to reach the latter stages?
- Or did they face only one game against world class opposition and ultimately fail?
Let’s take a look back game by game at the 3 lions performances over the last 4 weeks as they aimed to win their first World Cup since 1996.