Analysis of the tournament as a whole for England will follow tomorrow. For now though I want to focus on last nights defeat to Croatia. Despite the defeat I finished watching the game with positive thoughts. Not so much that we had blown a golden chance but more that we had given some young players potentially valuable experience.
There is still work to be done, of that I am in no doubt, but last night a strong Croatian side with experienced individuals Modric, Mandzukic and co had to go the distance and some before eliminating the young English side.
Cap wise there was no comparison. Our starting eleven came into the tournament with only 248 International caps between them. Our most experienced players were Jordan Henderson (39), Raheem Sterling (38) and Kyle Walker (35). On the other side of the field you had only Rebic with less than our third most experienced man, and a total of 612 caps between the starting Croatian eleven.
So when Trippier opened the scoring in the first five minutes it was always going to be a case of who handled the expectations better. Croatia had been there before in this tournament. Behind early against Denmark in the round of sixteen, the Croatian side pulled level, weathered extra time and won on penalties. Against Russia they too went behind in the first half before taking the game to extra time.
In that game though Russia pulled back level after Croatia had taken the lead in the extra period, something England couldn't do. But we are getting ahead of ourselves.England could, and should, have wrapped the game up in the first half by playing the way we have throughout the tournament.
Instead, after the opening goal, we reverted to long balls up to a lone Raheem Sterling. He was seemingly England's only outlet for the initial ten minutes after taking the lead. Where was Harry Kane in support?
By the 20 minute mark the Three Lions had become a side looking to hold on for a 1-0, rather than push to put the game to bed. When we did get into the Croatian half bad final balls, Lingard pass behind Alli (25 mins) invited more pressure.
Harry Kane looked slow, maybe a little tired from recent games, he was slow to get back onside as Sterling intercepted the ball from a slack Croatian pass. Surrounded by four his pass to an offside Kane saw the England striker shoot wide. The only redemption was that he was offside and so it wouldn't have counted.
On the 35th minute, Jesse Lingard had a curling effort go just wide from the outside of the box. With the keeper scrambling anything on target would have been an issue and possibly 2-0. And that would be as good as it got for England in the first half with the final ten minutes being all Croatia.
As the half time whistle went England were behind in the possession stats with only a single shot on target and under pressure at the back. The only outlet for England was a long ball up to Sterling and for him to draw a foul or hold up play a little.
The second half started as the first ended with England camped in their own half and unravelling. Kyle Walker gets a yellow and our one outlet, Sterling, is back defending. The Three Lions have one good spell, but essentially remain on the back foot, and that's where I believe the game turned.
Prior to the game the key battle was in midfield. Initially England had coped well with the Croatians and won that particular joust. Now the tide was turning and the English midfield was getting over whelmed.
Meanwhile, and running parallel to this, it was getting all to disjointed off the ball as the fouls racked up. England had a similar thing to deal with against Colombia, but this time they were biting. I think that took focus off the game plan and, while on the back foot, Croatia scored the equalizing goal.
Perisic's goal actually kicked England into life, giving them the best spell in the half, and then Raheem Sterling was substituted. Marcus Rashford coming on offered very little for the remainder of the game and, alongside Kane, was ineffective.
I know Raheem gets, and will continue to get, criticism for his World Cup but for me, he was the only one pushing the Croatians back consistently. It showed in the final knockings of normal time what he did for the side with the pressure Croatia could inflict almost at will. In fact I would go as far as to say England were lucky to make it to extra time.
When your side only have two shots on target all game, including extra time, then you really cannot be disappointed when you lose. That said extra time was always going to be fitness versus finesse. The fitness of the Croatians would be called into question after both their knockout games went to extra time and penalties. For England, they would need to revert back to the finesse and quality ball retention in order to make it through to penalties and wear out the Croatians.
As it was, we know which won the match and while this all may sound highly critical I believe it has been invaluable for Gareth Southgate and his young (second youngest squad of the tournament) England side.
Prior to the tournament no one really expected them to make it to the final, or even semi final. I spoke with some people who were not even expecting the side to qualify from the group. As the tournament went on, England grew as a side. As the side grew, so did expectations. More importantly though, experience was gained for both manager and players.
This game, on its own, was disappointing. Substitutions were like for like and didn't change the dynamic of the side, other than Vardy in the final moments. Southgate will watch these games back and, as he did prior to the World Cup, make some changes and grow as a coach.
Now, for the first time in a long time, I am not bitter toward the side as we were eliminated. I am not only proud of the side and what they achieved, but excited for the future as the core of this side will be there for Euro 2020. They will be there for Qatar 2022 and possibly even a tournament or two beyond those.
Because while the trophy may not have come home, pride in our National side most certainly has.
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