The English are not big optimists when it comes to the men’s team itself. The only world title was in 1966. It’s been a long time. Since then, nothing. No Euro Cup trophies, and the three Olympic Games golds (in which they compete as Great Britain) came in 1900, 1908 and 1912.
If you ask an Englishman who is the favorite to win the Cup, he or she would certainly say Brazil (before elimination) or France. Brazilians are born confident –sometimes too much– with their national team. On this side of the planet, on this island that is equally passionate about football, optimism grows as the team progresses to the next stage. And this is starting to happen now, especially after the victory over Senegal in the Round of 16.
Coach Gareth Southgate knew how to transform a talented generation into a respected group on and off the field. England reached the semi-finals of the Cup in 2018, the final of the European Championship last year. The conquest of the Euro by the women’s team this year gave an injection of courage and brought inspiration.
Harry Kane is a captain worthy of the job, and youngsters like Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham handle the pressure well. A team admired in the country for its position on issues such as the fight against racism and homophobia.
Defender Harry Maguire said this week that at the 2018 World Cup in Russia any result would be celebrated – and third place indeed was – but that this is different. Expectations for them rose. France and Portugal have shown the world in this Cup that they can win and convince. England tries to do the same.
Ahead of the quarter-finals against France, I see England fans divided: some think it’s impossible to beat the current world champions, they say that England has to put itself in their place and recognize that they are inferior. They question Maguire’s own statement that they are among the five or six teams that believe in themselves and can win. England in top six out of eight remaining teams? Look at the stray complex there…
Others admit that it is very difficult to stop the 23-year-old French rocket Kylian Mbappé, but believe that a full-back almost ten years older and freshly operated after a groin injury will do the job. “Kyle Walker will do it,” an Englishman told me this week in a London pub. They are also confident in the fact that Southgate have plenty of options up front with Marcus Rashford, Raheem Sterling, Bukayo Saka, Foden and Kane. There are already 12 goals scored in 4 matches.
I believe that England have a chance of beating the French team, especially if they enter the field with the right mindset in what will be one of the most difficult games, if not the most, of the Southgate era. But if that happens, there will hardly be a party in the streets around here. Unlike other editions of the World Cup that traditionally take place in the European summer, we are almost in winter, with temperatures already below freezing. The celebration is at home and in pubs.
On the one hand, fans live the dream of renewing that black and white photo of Queen Elizabeth II handing the Jules Rimet Cup to captain Bobby Moore. On the other, as reporter Will Unwin wrote in The Guardian: “England may be a proud sporting nation, but it has a collective pride built on pessimism.” If everything goes wrong against France, many will say: I knew it.
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