ENGLAND 2 CROATIA 1 – PHEW!!!

Okay, so it wasn’t 3-0 – but it was the victory that England needed to top their Nations League Group and it is them that will be heading to Portugal for the inaugural playoffs in June next year. Gareth ‘GS’ Southgate has done an excellent job to get them to this stage after their slow start to the competition. Yes Spain blew it to some extent, but you have to be ready to pounce and the English were – roll on summer 2019.

ENGLAND DOMINANCE

As tends to be the case with England they made hard work of it, when it could have been oh so much easier. They had to come from behind after dominating the first half and creating a number of chances, all very presentable too. Their pace and clever runs had the Croatian’s all over the place. The tactics were clearly to go at them and why not, their opponents had been playing a dramatic match against Spain less than 72 hours earlier, whilst the hosts had most of their reserve players performing in the friendly against the USA. The English should have been at least 2 or 3 up but at half-time it was 0-0. Croatia, not for the first time, standing firm when under siege.

SUCKER PUNCH

As can happen in football the side dominating found themselves behind in the 57th minute, a deflected effort by Andrej Kramarić, was lightning going to strike twice. Personally I thought, there is plenty of time left, let’s see if England have the backbone to respond. They had been the better side, but had just been sucker punched, did they have the bottle and battle to get back in the game. Well apart from a 5 minute period straight after the goal, when they were a bit shaky, they again assumed control, subs were made, Dele Alli,  Jesse Lingard  and young starlet Jadon Sancho. England had to go for broke and why not they had nothing to lose. It was now or never.

PAYBACK

Then maybe the key moment of the game, Croatia break, then a great opportunity is there for Marcelo Brozović to shoot but he hesitates and England clear. Minutes later from a long throw, the away side don’t clear properly, it falls to Harry Kane, who pokes it towards goal and Lingard touches it over the line – 1-1 after 78 minutes. It became a bit harem scarem at this stage as BOTH teams needed to score to top the group with Lingard clearing a header off the line to keep the scores level. But then a whipped in freekick found its way to captain Kane who stretched to direct the ball into the corner of the net, what a time to get your first goal in the Nations League. England held out the final period of time to qualify for the playoffs in summer 2019. A fantastic achievement and credit must go to all the coaching and playing staff. A just reward for the progress made in the last couple of years.

ENGLAND’S TIME ON THIS OCCASION

Let’s be totally honest, in Moscow on that July night, the Croatians deserved their come from behind victory and it is also the case that England deserved the win at Wembley. It was Croatia’s day then, whilst it is England’s now. It is all about what happens next, Zlatko Dalić’s men couldn’t best France in the World Cup Final, can Southgate’s best the teams in the Nations League playoffs? We will find out next year. A trophy is up for grabs, England have not won many at international level – basically the World Cup in 1966, I don’t personally count Le Tournoi in 1997. Winning the Nations League, against some of the best teams in Europe would be a superb achievement and bring a real belief that a European Championship or World Cup can be won. They have put themselves in the mix, minimum target reached, now for the maximum.

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