How England fell back in love with team

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Dele Alli (front) of England competes during a group G match between Tunisia and England at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Volgograd, Russia, June 18, 2018. (Xinhua/Chen Cheng)

On June 28, England's record goal-scorer Wayne Rooney tweeted a photo of himself boarding a flight to Washington to start a new career in North America's MLS soccer league. No caption was necessary. The picture spoke a thousand words.


That same day, the England team Rooney had been part of at three World Cups and three European Championships played its final group game at the World Cup in Russia, before advancing to the knock-out stage. Two wins later, the team is now just one game away from the final.


With no great burden of public expectation, under a manager who only got the job when his predecessor was ditched after just one game, the England class of 2018 has gone further in the tournament than any of its predecessors since 1990.


The symbolism of these events taking place on the same day was huge. Since the turn of the millennium, England players have gone into major tournaments wearing the label "the Golden Generation" – a collection of hugely talented players that includes Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, David Beckham and the last survivor of the group, Rooney. All outstanding individuals, as their club career records show, but when it came to international competition, the team known as the Three Lions looked decidedly tame.


Tournament after tournament, expectations were raised, overconfident claims were made, pressure was piled on – and the team failed, creating a real distance between the team and the traveling England fans who supported it. This was summed up most famously at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, when, after an unconvincing draw with Algeria, an angry Rooney turned to the television cameras and said: "Nice to see your own fans booing you, you football ‘supporters'."


Rooney scored 53 times in 119 appearances for England before retiring from international soccer in August 2017, despite manager Gareth Southgate wanting him to continue. Rooney wanted to focus on playing for his boyhood side, Everton, which he had just rejoined after 13 years at Manchester United.


But Everton's decision to let him leave for North America after just one season shows Rooney's decision did England and Southgate a huge favor.


With the last of the Golden Generation now out of the picture, England closed a chapter in which the team never lived up to expectation, and embarked on a new one – which has, so far, been far more exciting than many would have predicted.


As has happened with so many big tournaments before, England eased through qualifying to secure its place at the 2018 World Cup, but this time, the usual pre-tournament hype and overexcitement seemed absent, both from fans and media.


The England fans' theme song, which is inescapable in the country at the moment, is Three Lions. It was written for the 1996 European Championships, staged in England, and the tournament's slogan – Football Comes Home – inspired the song's refrain.


Its lyrics hark back to England's past glory (singular) – winning the 1966 World Cup – and all the near misses and heartbreak England fans have been put through since, while clinging to the hope that maybe this time things will be different, and finally, football will come home.


For those who witnessed it, Euro 96 was a life-defining tournament, but one that ended in yet another heroic failure, as England reached the semi-final, against the old enemy, Germany, and lost in a penalty shoot-out. The player who missed that vital penalty? Gareth Southgate.


Fast-forward to Russia 2018 and when England beat Colombia on penalties in the round of 16 – an event of huge psychological significance for England fans – amid all the celebrations, Southgate went to console the Colombian player who had missed. He has been there.


Level-headed, composed and polite, Southgate does not look, behave, or talk like you would expect from a soccer player. He enjoyed a decent enough playing career with Crystal Palace, Aston Villa, and Middlesbrough, and won 57 England caps, but is mostly known for his penalty miss against Germany. However, the way he exploded with joy after the Colombia game has given fans another image to remember.


Although his career overlapped with the Golden Generation, as a player and as an individual, he was never one of their number. No celebrity lifestyle for Gareth – he is far too sensible for that. His wife made a rare public appearance after the win over Colombia, and they have two children, but his private life is private.


This thoroughly sensible demeanor and approach to life is demonstrated in his 2018 team. Having had a front-row seat to observe how the Golden Generation repeatedly failed in big tournaments –following his retirement, Southgate was briefly a television pundit –the England manager knows all the things that those teams got wrong, and has made sure his young players get things right. So far, so good.


Rooney's outburst in South Africa was deeply symbolic because it showed the disconnection that had developed over the years between players and supporters, and to a degree, the media.


In 1996, Southgate was part of an England team under then-manager Terry Venables who played with smiles on their faces, and as a result produced some superb performances that fans still talk about to this day.


But over the last few tournaments, smiles have been replaced by tension, and the team has paid the price. Southgate has seen this and realized that winning friends is almost as important as winning games, and has transformed the team's public relations – to huge effect.


Before the tournament, England held a media day modeled on those held by teams playing in American football's Super Bowl, where each player was given a designated space and the media went round from one to another, getting to know them all personally. Just like that, the media was not on the players' backs, they were on their side.


That openness has continued in Russia, where members of the media have been invited into the camp for a darts competition against the players. Informal, friendly, relaxed– both the players and the reporters. This is the mood that has been transmitted to fans in Russia and back home, and as a result, for the first time in a long time – since Euro 96, in fact, when Southgate was a player – England have a happy team and happy fans.


Of the 32 teams that started this World Cup, England had the third youngest squad, and like a class with an inspiring school teacher, the players trust and believe in Southgate.


Admittedly, England has not had the toughest road to the last four of the tournament, and they could have harder semi-final opponents than Croatia – but this team is a work in progress. It was supposed to be ready to challenge in four years' time, at Qatar 2022, not today. The side is ahead of schedule.


This young England team is part of the social media generation, and it shows. Individual players' social media accounts have been a key part of the team's public relations effort, as demonstrated by newspaper images of players posing for selfies with fans after the Colombia game. The picture of Jesse Lingard phoning his mother with the message "No mum, I'm not coming home. It's…" was a masterstroke.


However the tournament ends for England, Southgate – the accidental manager, who stepped into the breach when needed –has become the accidental hero, and fans have embraced him and his team.


The last time England generated public feelings like this was in 1996, when soccer was supposed to come home, only for Southgate to drop the key on the doorstep. But many members of Southgate's squad are too young to remember this or be burdened by it, and it shows.


For older fans who do remember, though, 22 years of frustration, pain and disappointment look like they might just be coming to an end. Lose against Croatia in the semis and, once the inevitable tears are dried, the feeling will be that this team was never meant to shine yet anyway, so roll on Qatar 2022.


But if the young Lions of 2018 win and reach their first major final in 52 years, public excitement will be off the scale. A cool-headed clear-thinking leader like Southgate will be exactly what the team, and indeed the country needs.


What was billed as the Golden Generation turned out to be Fool's Gold. But in Southgate, English football has found an alchemist who has put it within touching distance of the real thing.


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