Historically, English football-supporting culture has had a well-known darker side. But in recent decades, as the England men’s team’s trophy drought has continued, some of its unofficial anthems have acquired an endearingly melancholy quality. “It was nearly complete, it was nearly so sweet”, as the Three Lions song had it in the 1990s, when England exited a World Cup and a European Championship at the semi-final stage.
This summer, Oasis’s Wonderwall has been the soundtrack as Harry Kane and co progressed to Wednesday’s climactic semi-final showdown with Argentina. This is a song which, very wisely in an England context, puts a heavy emphasis on the idea of “maybe”. In the end it turned out to be maybe not.
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A watching audience of more than 24 million began to believe as England scored first to put themselves on the brink of a first World Cup final since 1966. But a familiar sense of resignation then took over, as the team wilted under Argentinian pressure and lost to a stoppage-time winner. The Portuguese sometimes define their national sensibility using the word saudade, conveying a mixture of nostalgia and longing. England’s footballers and followers could do with their own equivalent.
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The inquest, thankfully, is so far proving less vicious than the one which led to the disgraceful vilification of David Beckham, after his red card was followed by defeat against Argentina in 1998. But England’s German coach, Thomas Tuchel, is coming under fire after presiding over his side’s retreat into a defensive shell in the latter stages of the game. Nervous England teams lost in similar fashion to Croatia in the 2018 semi-final, and to Italy in the Euro 2020 final. Tuchel was supposed to be the foreign change agent, but the inability to take control from a winning position was all too familiar. Football, as we know, is a fickle game. It was only last week that he was being talked up on Mumsnet.
As the air slightly goes out of a heatwave-heavy summer, the rest of the world’s attention will shift to a Spain-Argentina final – surely to be the 39-year-old Lionel Messi’s last appearance on football’s greatest stage. The 2026 men’s World Cup has suffered from hyper-commercialisation, visa injustices and an assault on the tournament’s sporting integrity by Donald Trump, facilitated by the egregious Fifa president, Gianni Infantino. But the extraordinary longevity of Messi’s genius, which turned the game against England, has offered a spectacle to delight anyone interested in sport. The provocative and reprehensible brandishing of a Falklands-related banner by his teammates has done him a disservice by generating a row where there should been only acclamation.
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Tuchel and his deflated players will depart the US after a third-place match against a similarly disappointed France team. Some will leave having enhanced their reputation, others will have regrets. But collectively they confirmed England’s status in the top rank of footballing nations – a position not to be taken for granted after periods of spectacular underachievement – and gave the nation some memorable highs.
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The intense, passionate victory over Mexico in a cacophonous, stormy Azteca stadium will take its place among the greatest of England triumphs. For the rest, Wonderwall captures the immediate mood nicely: “Today was gonna be the day, but they’ll never throw it back to you.” There’s always tomorrow, though.
