Firstly let's start with what matters, and we will clear this all up from the start, the 2018 Russia World Cup has been the best on record. There have been goals galore, mainly after the 88th minute, outside of the boot screamers, or as the kids call it the trivela, and above all else national pride across the board, from the Panama players entering the after scoring their first ever world cup goal despite being 6-0 down, all the way to the timely return of Baddiel and Skinner's annoying catchy tune to number 1 in the charts. Also lets iron this out whatever happens in the final, football has been the overall winner, and Benjamin Pavard scored the goal of the tournament that's a no contest for me.
How I feel about England is a very difficult one, its the morning after we've been knocked out and the rain has returned to Manchester. The summer seems to have gone by in the blink of an eye and what a summer it has been. I have watched us make the first world cup semi-final in my lifetime, and I don't remember a day where it has been under 25 degrees. Bank balances up and down the country have taken a battering due to our unexpected run, and the waistcoat somehow became a go-to item of clothing.
So why are we all winners? Well let's be honest, this country owes Southgate a knighthood, and I don't mean 15 years down the line I mean right now before he gets off the plane. Fly the queen to the Bahamas and knight him on the sunlounger, which he probably respectfully asked a German to vacate. There he stands Sir Gareth in his Adidas flip-flops and beige shorts, which to anyone else would be far too casual but our newest hero isn't a Hawaiian print kind of man. For the first time in as long as I can remember, there have been people actually talking about our team in Russia as heroes, not the primadonna of yesteryear, not the golden generation but as Sir Gareth aptly put it, the RELATABLE generation. A team full of players who have fought to be where they are. Lingard was never big enough, Stones had too many mistakes in him, Vardy was as likely to be playing pro footy as he was to be fighting someone in the local boozer, but not this time. This time they took it to the opposition, we played football from the back and stretched defences with our attacking wing backs. And guess what at home we loved it, as we watched Harry Kane score a hat trick at the World Cup we knew we might just see him at Tesco's doing his family shop once he is home.
Let's line this up. To say we are in a volatile position at the moment would be an understatement, there's a bitter undercurrent of hate which floods the majority of the faceless on public transport. We just aren't happy. But for the past three weeks, things have been different. Sir Gareth has transformed the spirits of the masses. Jesse Lingard riding a giant unicorn and performing dances from Fortnite has made more sense to us than the mind-numbing Torie debates on Brexit have for some time. And yes I get the whole 'It's only a game' brigade, but I raise you that this is and never has been only a game, this is the most universal language in the football-shaped earth on which we reside. The Sagrada de Familia is just a building by some Spanish fella, and Mozart just threw together some notes. If I was to be dropped on an island where no one spoke a word of my native tongue, if I snapped four branches from the trees and dug them into the ground opposite one another, then I throw in the ball and we all know the rules, guess what we can now communicate, purely and simply because of football.
Ok, so back to the World Cup and down from my pedestal. The team France left at home could have potentially won the world cup. Mbappe is the greatest young talent in the world, not since Ronaldo have I watched a man temporarily turn into a gazelle, before morphing back into Mbappe to slide the ball coolly past the keeper. Varane isn't all hype and Pogba is an excellent midfielder when the team plays with him. Oh and guess what, in fact, I won't get started on Kante, he might actually get a whole blog of his own. Then we have Croatia and their very own 'Golden Generation' with the player that most Croats will say is their greatest of all time as commander-in-chief, if they go on to win it surely that little magician wins the Ballon d'Or. Modric aside, they have a team packed with players from Europe's elite and enviably creativity in midfield. An almost eastern European strength defensively, with wingers who are as technical as they are powerful. In general a pretty game team to watch. So the scene is set, and we now await someone to be the hero of the biggest game on earth.
Beyond the superstars, we have had the implementation of a whole new villain, VAR. For me, it's excellent. Once the implementation of it is tightened up it will be fantastic for the game; I may add I was the biggest sceptic you would have come across only a few months ago as I quite liked the whole human error aspect of refereeing. Anyway, when should it be used? We need to work out what it's being used for, and then FIFA needs to tell the world. For example, the notorious Colombian headbutt which the referee didn't see, yet produced a yellow card, yes a yellow card for a headbutt! Was a bizarre low point for VAR. Undoubtedly if someone makes the television signal with their hands they should be booked, be it player or coach, but all in all it eliminated Germany so it cant be all that bad.
Right now, would I swap this summer for a couple of nights of decent sleep where the stickiness of the nights didn't leave me zombie-like in work? Certainly not! Will I forget this Summer? Not in my lifetime or the next.
I think when we reminisce on the 2018 World Cup it's been a massive success and the simple fact is that the things which separate us will be the death of us, but those that bring us together shall forever be remembered with a smile.
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