England’s World Cup journey continues

England 2 v Sweden 0

In all the euphoria of Tuesday night’s historic penalty shoot out win against Columbia, I was remiss in not mentioning Jordan Pickford’s excellent save which set up the victory. And it was Pickford again today that England must thank for ensuring that, for the first time in 28 years, they cruised comfortably into a World Cup semi final.

In times past England were pre-programmed to concede a goal when in the lead. In fairness they did it against Tunisia in their opening game and again v Columbia on Tuesday. It nearly happened here for shortly after the break Pickford made an excellent save to deny a Berg header and then fifteen minutes later he produced an even better save low down from Claesen following a lovely Swedish move.

By then however, England were 2-0 up and Sweden were forced to chase the game. This situation suited England, because apart from those two chances, the three lions controlled the game in a manner unfamiliar to the England supporter. And though the opening goal on the half hour came from a set piece, it had followed a five minute period where England had been probing for an opening. Harry McGuire’s bullet header proved, once again, Manager Southgate’s pronouncement that a disproportionate number of world cup goals are scored from dead balls. And at last any thought that England were solely relying on set pieces to score their goals was soon dispelled when in minute 58 Dele Alli’s header rounded off a delightful move the Swedish defence in disarray.

The longer the game continued the greater became England’s grip on proceedings. This was the control that Manager Southgate had talked about prior to the start of the tournament and not since England’s 4-1 win against Holland in the 1996 European Championships have they been so dominant in a knockout game at a major tournament.

With every encounter this England side is growing in cohesion and self belief. The momentum is there. Raheem the dream is a world class striker and a winnable semi final awaits.

©Mark Brennand