Hard not to get caught up in euphoria of Harry Kane's heroics

Now is not the time for clinical analysis. Now is the time to go with the flow, surf the euphoric mood and just see what happens.

This is a rare moment when the power of sport to unify and allow hope and fantasy to run riot shows itself and it is a joyous experience.

What happens on Saturday is anyone’s guess. I’d wager it will be emptier, but not necessarily quieter, than normal at Sandown on Saturday, and, ironically, never will a weekend trip to Ikea, usually such a chore as you try to avoid masses of humans walking slowly and gawping at weirdly named glassware, be so painless.

But on the pitch over in Samara it is difficult to know whether Sweden will pop the England dream or if this thrilling journey will continue on to the semis on Wednesday and maybe beyond.

Let’s hope it carries on. England fans are a daft bunch but at least their delusional sense of entitlement has finally subsided and they now cheer on the Three Lions with hope rather than expectation in their hearts.

The summer of 2018 is threatening to be epic. The sun has barely relented since the start of May and everyone is getting giddy with excitement as Gareth Southgate, marshalling his players with dignity and calmness, plots a path to places the England team has not visited for decades.

Let’s not mess about here: there is roughly a 20 per cent chance that the maddest thing to happen to England in most of our lifetimes will become reality. Everyone is already massively revved up and we are only just done with the round of 16, so what would it be like if England actually won the World Cup? Would life change for the better? Would we become more tolerant of and affectionate towards one another? Would we run out of lager? Would my fellow residents still watch Love Island that night?

By reaching the quarter-finals they have now parred the World Cup, but already everyone is eying up the birdie, the eagle and even the albatross.

Can it happen? You certainly can’t say it won’t. The draw has worked out ridiculously well for England with the weakest four teams all in the same half. Sweden and Russia are extremely beatable and Croatia have impressed only in the second half against an Argentina side that spent its time in Russia behaving like a pub team on tour.

And while Harry Kane is on the pitch there is always hope. What a hero. His performance on Tuesday was superb, not just in the way he coolly converted his two penalties but for his immense leading of the line like the world-class centre-forward he is.

He held up the ball with strength, won free kicks with guile and played a big part in keeping his teammates in the right mental state when Colombian provocation was at its most intense.

The most pleasing aspect of how this England team play is their confidence in possession, a quality the absence of which has been the main reason why the nation’s record in major championships has been so poor in recent times.

They pass without fear at the back and give ample options to those on the ball, which is great to see. There was a blip during the first period of extra time on Tuesday, when bad old England resurfaced and the passing lacked purpose or certainty. Nobody was showing and it seemed the South Americans would take control of the game.

But Southgate steadied the troops and they went on to scrape through and earn a place in the last eight.

If I was writing without an urge for England to keep the magic in the air, I’d make various points, such as a concern that for all his brilliance there is a nagging fear that Kane is not at full fitness.

Or that Dele Alli is less effective than he can be through being played in a position that does not suit him perfectly and possible injury niggles, or that Raheem Sterling is not really contributing.

I wouldn’t be worried that England have won only two of their last 16 World Cup knockout matches inside 90 minutes, but I would be mindful of the fact Sweden qualified ahead of Holland in their group and put out Italy in the playoffs.

And I still don’t get the Jordan Henderson appeal or the point of playing Kyle Walker on the right of the three centre-backs.

Moreover, it is difficult to see how, without a huge slice of luck, the team who emerge from England’s half can cope with their final opponent, even if that turns out to be Uruguay.

I remain confident Belgium have what it takes to go all the way, but Brazil and France would also start the decider as significant favourites.

But never mind all that. There is not much that unites the nation in such a positive way these days, so I’m going to enjoy the smiles and the sunshine and join the happy vibe for as long as the dream lives on.

Six thoughts on the World Cup

1What do the VAR teams wear on their feet? I’m not going to bang on about the video ref this week. I’m still not a fan but most people seem to be so there’s not a lot else to say, but I am intrigued about the choice of footwear of those working in the VAR studio.

We get a glimpse of them before each match, as they dutifully stand in formation for the cameras wearing their actual ref kits as per the memo. But I have a weird desire to know whether they go the whole hog and wear football boots. Maybe they go with astros, or trainers. Smart, formal leather shoes? Carpet slippers? I think we should be told.

2You know when someone points out a ticking clock that you hadn’t previously been aware of and then you can’t stop listening to it? There is a similar phenomenon going on with Glenn Hoddle and his use of the word ‘that’, which I have only recently become aware of. Everyone else goes with ‘the’, but Glenn loves to accentuate his point with liberal deployment of ‘that’. “England need to get the ball out to that left side more often. They mustn’t be afraid to play it into that penalty area quicker. They can’t leave an ounce of energy in that dressing room.”

Sporting Index should have a market called Take That, awarding ten points per use of ‘that’ by the former England gaffer.

3 Radio 5 Live’s coverage of matches, as noted here recently, is excellent, but the tone of the football output when there isn’t actually a game on has moved into a direction that does not connect with proper football fans.

It is fluffy and lacking in substance, as if there has been a memo to staff telling them the aim is to broaden the reach, a laudable enough aim unless it involves ignoring the appetite of real fans for meaningful listening material. It’s as if they are trying to convert rugby union and F1 fans to football.

Exhibit A, your honour, is the Robbie Savage Breakfast Show, which I had the chronic misfortune to stumble across yesterday. It was truly the worst piece of sports radio I have ever heard. The station needs to return to being a credible sports broadcaster at all times.

4 The allocation of stoppage time remains a random act. There was a gap of three and a half minutes between England’s penalty against Colombia being awarded and taken yet only three minutes were added on at the end of the first half. And it remains the case that if the game is not close there is almost always less additional time played. There must be a better way.

5If Sky and BT are not currently finalising a mega-money contract to offer Ally McCoist to be their main co-commentator they are mad. He is truly outstanding.

6The standard of Mark Lawrenson’s co-commentaries, in stark contrast, is deteriorating rapidly and that is from a fairly low original starting point.

There is a place for Lawro’s observations on the game. That place is a comfy sofa in the bar of a traditional English golf clubhouse, where he can sit with a group of crashing bores droning on with his irrelevant views, getting things wrong and betraying a glaring lack of basic research into the teams he is paid to comment on.

At times, when he gets confused and/or particularly uninterested, he achieves the near-impossible feat of making Peter Alliss sound like Richard Hoiles. Enough.

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