Update : It actually got one step closer to home, as England beats Sweden to reach semi-final for first time since Italia 90.
Starting from the assumption that this is an opinion based on no technical or scientific research, I kindly invite anyone reading this not to use it as a basis for any betting on who will actually lift the coveted trophy on the Final Match.
This opinion is based on emotive analysis intertwined with geopolitical insights and over 30 years of watching the World Cup. It is also based on the fact that for the first time, my favourite team, Italy, didn’t qualify.
Let’s agree on the fact that there are two world cup eras clearly split by ITALIA 90. Italia 90 remains the last ‘classic World Cup’ where teams and football were the highlights of the tournament rather than the spectacle and gossip surrounding stars making up the teams.
If we look at the last World Cups, one could see that the team which lift the cup was a team rather than a group of individuals brought together. Since Italia 90, the teams which made it to the final were primarily teams which did not have that extraordinary shining star, if they had one it wasn’t just one, but the team became the actual constellation. Germany in ’90, Brazil (and Italy till a certain extend) in ’94, France in ’98, Italy in 2006, Spain in 2010 and Germany in 2014 were all a great team of players harnessing the potential of the individuals to form a strong collective. In the process, they eliminated teams which had the ‘strength’ of the ‘stars’ but perhaps the individual stardom came at an expense of the collective.
England, over the years always had high hopes. However, most of the attention, during the past editions was absorbed by the WAGS, the Beckhams, the Rooneys, the Owens and the Cappellos. Never there was a ‘reference’ to the collective. There was also a sign of ‘arrogance’ which could have stemmed from the fact that most of the players hailed from the most powerful European League, the Premier League.
This year I sense there’s a difference and this difference is personified in Southgate. Southgate took over the responsibility and became the face of this team. He personifies all what is good in leadership and all what the team should be seen as. Diligent, professional, elegant, empathic and strong.
He also has the ‘urge’ to win, because he lost too many times the opportunity to lift the cup, when he was part of various teams which lacked some ingredient or another required to go to it.
Gareth Southgate’s players have also debunked one of the longest-standing myths: England cannot win a WorldCup shootout. In their match against Columbia, the players celebrated emotionally with fans on the Spartak Stadium pitch. They had just booked their place in the quarter-finals from the penalty spot, which had haunted so many Englishmen before them and probably most of the players as fans.
Then there’s the need from Britain to send a message that they deserve some more respect as BREXIT has led to an over-all negative sentiment across the globe. And the fact that its taking place in Russia? Yes, the diplomatic relations between England and Russia are probably at one of the lowest levels possible. Salisbury, Election meddling, Brexit influence and many more diplomatic rifts all might come to the ‘fore’ to fuel the ‘national’ pride required when you’re wearing your national team’s shirt and ‘fighting’ for your country.
I might be wrong as there is the match against Sweden, which on paper might be a weaker side, but which so far got rid of the Netherland in the qualification group matches, Italy in the qualification play offs and Spain in the group stages and that’s why football is a sport and should be seen as one with all the unpredictability of the game.
However, I still think that England has it all, to lift the cup.
Jesmond Saliba
