2018 World Cup review

A few thoughts on England at the World Cup, as football narrowly avoided coming home, lager flooded our streets, and Russia 2018 proved to be a raging success.

It’s Coming Home

I lost count of the number of times that I heard this during the World Cup. Or spotted it on Twitter. Sadly, it looks as if football has decided to stop off across the Channel for a couple of years at least; but it was fun while it lasted.

Did some people really see phrase as this as a sign of English arrogance? If Twitter is anything to go by, then yes. But can you accurately judge anything based on social media? No. Will I stop asking myself questions like Jamie Redknapp does on Sky? Hopefully.

For me, this was never about England fans believing that we were going to win the World Cup. It was about the belief returning to the supporters of the national team, as a very likeable set of players restored pride to a nation that was in desperate need of something to cheer.

Maybe some did feel that football was coming home. But can people really begrudge others for dreaming? I know that was then but it could be again; words from Three Lions that rattled around my head throughout the tournament. I never thought England could win this World Cup, yet here I was allowing myself to think that one day in the future, maybe, just maybe, 1966 could happen again.

England will never get a better chance of reaching a World Cup final

This has been one of my favourite quotes of this tournament. True, the run to the World Cup final did look appealing after the defeat against Belgium, and we may never get a better chance of reaching a World Cup final. But it is the certainty behind this statement that annoys me.

How do any of us know if this is our best chance of playing in a World Cup final? No one knows what the future holds. In forty years time, we could all look back and state that England have no chance of winning this new 128-team tournament, and we really blew our chance in 2018, but time will tell.

Why the despondency? I know people were hurt, and none of us are logical in the immediate aftermath of a defeat. But why can’t this young team – with a few additions – build on this, kick on, and use this run to their advantage?

England only won three games in 90 minutes

Congratulations to anyone who points out this fact. Well done. This response from the doom and gloom merchants towards anyone celebrating England reaching the semi-finals misses the point completely.

England’s two semi-final appearances in the 90s were achieved with similarly poor success rates in 90 minute matches. In Italia 90, England only beat Egypt in normal time, and in Euro 96, we only won two out of five matches.

But sport it isn’t always about laying out the bare facts. Those summers, and 2018, have provided England fans with fantastic memories. Many of us still talk about 1990 and 1996, all recalling the agony and ecstasy, joy and despair, hope and anticipation that these tournaments provided.

One day we’ll sit down and reminisce about Russia 2018, and I’m pretty sure that no one will tell us that we should coldly analyse the fact that we won only three matches in normal time. Instead we all recall the wave of euphoria as a team that none of us believed in ended up 22 minutes away from the World Cup final.

Lager, lager, lager

The craze of the summer appeared to involve a widespread wastage of alcohol, as jubilant supporters threw their pints of overpriced lager into the air to celebrate an England goal. Birmingham, Nottingham, Hyde Park and Croydon; nowhere was safe from this new wave.

Naturally many frowned and declared that it was all very silly. On the face of it, you could see their point. However, if people were having fun, then where was the harm in it? I’m not sure I would do it, but I am thrifty (tight, some might say) and others may not enjoy being soaked by my Guinness.  

I think people attending big screenings would have cottoned on quickly that if England scored then they were going to get a soaking. So I can’t really see the issue. Maybe some don’t like others escaping their real-life struggles and enjoying themselves.

Obviously we need to draw the line at people celebrating on emergency vehicles, or any vehicles to be honest. But my faith in humanity stretches far enough to hope that in sobriety the culprits may have winced at their behaviour and realised that it wasn’t their finest hour.

And who knew that bus shelter roofs were not strong enough to take the weight of a drunk man jumping from the top of a double decker bus?

The future’s bright….

What a fantastic World Cup. Full of drama, shocks, VAR controversy, goals, sun, beer, wall charts, sticker albums, waistcoats, Three Lions, sun, sun, and more sun. I’m sure we will all agree that Russia 2018 has been one of the finest World Cups ever.

In years to come, Russia 2018 will become more and more special. In 2022 we will have to experience a World Cup being played in November and December, with hot chocolate and Bovril flying through the air during the big screenings in England.

Journalists have been unanimous in their praise of Russia as a host of the World Cup, with the nation and visiting supporters embracing the event. Which makes UEFAs decision to dilute the whole thing and spread the finals of Euro 2020 across numerous venues seem unwise to say the least.

In 2026, 48-teams will make their way to Canada, Mexico and the USA for the World Cup finals. I think we all know that a 32-team event is the ideal number, so this bloated edition will probably leave us wanting less.

Russia 2018 is already looking better by the day.