England bowed out at the semi-final stage. Croatia won that game by two goals to one and so proceed to a Final meeting with La Belle France.
As an Englishman, am I dispirited? Downhearted? Disappointed?
Maybe a little disappointed because going to the final would have been very good but, on balance, I am elated.
England made it to the semi-finals. That means England were in the top four.
Germany, Brazil, Spain, Portugal are all gone. Only France, Belgium, Croatia and England remain.
On Sunday we shall find out who is the best of those four. Previously, on Saturday, we shall discover who is third and fourth ranked in the World.
In the World.
Before the finals started there were negative comments from the media about the team and their manager, Gareth Southgate. There were disparaging comments on social media – mostly from people whose Nations failed to qualify.
This speaks volumes about those nay-sayers, more so than it does about the England team.
Now, after England lost to Croatia in that semi-final, I receive, by ‘What’sApp’, a meme that purports to make a sly comment about England’s performance.
From whom did I receive it? A Malaysian!
I asked the sender how the Malaysian Team got on in the World Cup but there has been, so far, no response.
That’s the point, isn’t it?
How easy it is to denigrate the performance of a team in the finals when they did not win the World Cup.
How easy it is to be bitter at others when your team didn't quite make the grade.
How easy it is to wish that a team fails. It is narrow and small minded thinking that makes that person a pariah.
Perhaps we should all crow about Iceland failing to get to the last sixteen. Maybe a word or two about Spain and Portugal’s combined failure to reach any meaningful stage. Certainly there have been plenty of jokes and memes about the German team.
But, really, the point is that any team that made it to the finals in Russia should be proud of their achievement.
We should applaud Morocco, Iran, Panama and all the others that helped make this a great tournament.
These rose above the rest, the cream on the global football cake. They came to Russia to compete. They were not there to make up the numbers – as they all showed us by their performances.
Those that made it through the Group Stages to get into the last sixteen were the success story but all of those who went to Russia were, in their own way, winners.
Congratulations to Belgium and England for getting to the semi-finals. You have done well. I shall support England, of course, but I shall not hope that Belgium loses. Whoever wins is worthy of respect and the fourth placed team is worthy of praise for achieving that level.
More congratulations to Croatia and France for reaching the finals. One of you is about to be crowned the very best in the World.
I shall support France. That is a far cry from hoping that Croatia loses!
Liberté, égalité, fraternité, Mbappe!!!
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