In case you – somehow – haven’t heard, football is coming home. There’s just the formality of getting the actual games out of the way first.
England dominated throughout against Colombia in their last 16 World Cup tie, remaining calm in the face of gamesmanship, weak refereeing and the sheer weight of their awful penalty shootout record to deservedly set up a quarter-final clash with Sweden.
It was a test of character and belief. Colombia should have been down to 10 men in the first half when Wilmar Barrios headbutted Jordan Henderson.
Jordan Pickford produced the save of the tournament to deny Mateus Uribe in stoppage-time. England had won the game once and then had to win it all over again, via a first ever World Cup shootout win.
It was a historic night for England and we’ve collected ten of the best images from it, to relive the story a slightly different way…
Mark Geiger set the tone early on a night where he lost control of the match, allowing Colombia’s players – in particular Barrios and Juan Cuadrado – to get away with persistent fouling.
Yerry Mina, who netted the late equaliser, quite clearly manhandled Raheem Sterling in the opening stages of the match but Geiger took an eternity to blow his whistle.
It was a blatant foul, creating an almost comical image, and a sign of things to come from both Geiger and Colombia.
Speaking of manhandling, Colombia followed the lead of Tunisia and Panama by attempting to grab Harry Kane at corners.
The African outfit got away with it, the Central Americans didn’t and neither did former Aston Villa man Carlos Sanchez, midway through the second half.
After yet more gamesmanship as Colombia crowded Geiger to delay the spotkick, Kane remained composed to convert his penalty straight down the middle and send pubs across the country into euphoria.
With Colombia failing to threaten and England doing an impressive job of killing the game off, it looked as if that Kane strike would be enough to get the job done.
That was until Mateus Uribe walloped a strike from an implausible distance, which was destined for the top corner until Jordan Pickford produced the save of the tournament to keep it out.
Thibaut Courtois mocked Pickford after England’s 1-0 defeat to Belgium, but the Everton man produced heroics just a day after his Chelsea counterpart conceded two avoidable goals against Japan. And he wasn’t done yet…
After Uribe smashed his penalty against the bar to get Jordan Henderson, whose penalty miss should not overshadow a classy, gutsy performance over 120, out of jail, Pickford saved from Carlos Bacca to put England on the edge of victory.
His penalty stop was not as good as his save in normal time but it was still an impressive show of agility under the most acute of pressure, produced when his country needed him most.
After the Belgium game, there were some who questioned Pickford’s place in the side but Southgate kept the faith and was rewarded handsomely.
England, just as they did in normal time, had the game in the palm of their hands and Eric Dier, the man who had been brought on to help them shut it out was the man handed the responsibility.
It was a surprise when he smashed in that free-kick at Euro 2016 against Russia and once more, he stunned the nation with his technique and composure under pressure, calmly slotting past North London rival David Ospina to spark genuine chaos on the streets of England.
It wasn’t just back home where there was chaos. After two hours of keeping their heads under the most intense of pressure, England’s players were finally able to let loose once Dier slotted home.
The winning penalty sparked the traditional race to the penalty area, for everyone apart from Henderson, who just like Cristiano Ronaldo in Moscow a decade ago, fell to the turf and thanked his lucky stars that his team-mates dug him out of a hole.
Players will often talk about how they’re fans themselves as well and often it feels hollow. But just look at the intense passion on Pickford’s face as he is embraced by Kieran Trippier and captain Kane.
It is the look that will have been on millions of faces up and down the country; relief, mixed in with pure joy and pride to create quite the image.
This England team has reconnected with the country and one reason why is that they haven’t been scared to show just how much this World Cup means to them.
Another factor in England’s new-found popularity is their togetherness. There are no cliques, no big egos, just a united squad of players working hard and enjoying the opportunity of a lifetime that has been laid out in front of them.
Substitutes piling onto the pitch to celebrate is a recurring feature of the World Cup, which only adds to the spectacle, but for players who have trained hard but been left in the shadows, moments like Dier’s represent an opportunity to genuinely enjoy themselves.
When the game went to penalties, given England’s woeful record, many observers would have put money on it being fans wearing the Three Lions staring into space, wondering where it all went wrong, once the spot-kicks were over.
Just as Colombian fans will look at Gareth Southgate’s army and think, ‘that could have been us’, England fans, who have suffered more than their fair share of penalty heartache, will have the exact same thoughts and be counting their blessings that this time, it proved to be different.
Southgate retained his calm demeanour throughout the match; encouraging his players to keep their heads, keep playing and probing but, quite rightly, allowed himself some intense celebrations post-match.
It is quite clear to see how much being England manager at a World Cup means to him. He is the man who has got England playing passing football, got them connected with the fans again and made us believe that football may actually come home this summer.
More celebrations like these against Sweden on Saturday, please…