England vs. France: Is this finally the Three Lions' year?
AL RAYYAN, Qatar — Four years ago, England's long underachieving national team surprised many by reaching the semifinals of the World Cup. That list included itself.
The trip to the final four was the Three Lions' first since 1990 and just their second since 1966, when they won their only World Cup title in controversial fashion — no conclusive evidence that the winning strike crossed the goal line has ever been produced — on home soil over chief rival Germany.
England hasn't made it back to the final in the six decades since.
That checkered history apparently cast some collective doubt in the minds of England's players, who narrowly missed out on a trip to the decisive contest with an extra-time loss to eventual runner-up Croatia four years ago.
"Looking back in 2018, we didn't really know what to expect," England captain Harry Kane said on the eve of Saturday's marquee quarterfinal meeting with defending world champion France (2 p.m. ET, FOX and the FOX Sports app).
"It was almost a new experience for a lot of us, and obviously we've got to the semifinal there, and everyone was over the moon. But whether we had the full belief to go and win the tournament, I'm not quite sure."
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Gareth Southgate's unquestionably talented team was young and inexperienced then. In Qatar, they are less so.
Though they lost the final of the European Championship last summer in the most excruciating fashion, to Italy at London's famed Wembley Stadium in a penalty shootout — the sixth time in eight tries they've been eliminated from a major tournament by the tiebreaker — it also helped them mature. Rather than diminish them, the high-stakes losses have made England's players into a resolute, battle-hardened bunch.
"That belief has been building and building over the last four or five years now," Kane said. "We entered this tournament hoping and believing that we can win it, and we've got to a stage now where we expect it."
Upsetting Les Bleus – and stopping the unstoppable Kylian Mbappe – will require their best performance so far. England was superb in lopsided group-stage victories over Iran and Wales. They thumped Senegal 3-0 in the round of 16. But they were lucky not to concede the first goal in that match, and were also outplayed by the United States for most of a scoreless first-round tie.
Still, there is reason for long-suffering Three Lions supporters to have real hope that this World Cup could be different.
Midfielder Jude Bellingham, 19, has been one of the breakout players of the tournament. Fellow youngsters Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden have also impressed.
The infighting between cliques drawn along club lines that has been the undoing of many previous England teams at many previous competitions doesn't seem to be afflicting this group, either. While Southgate, like all his predecessors in the soccer-obsessed country, is a constant target of mostly unfair criticism, his meticulous approach to fostering camaraderie has been harder to fault.
Can Harry Kane lead England past France?
"They're very close," Southgate said of his squad. "They've got a tremendous spirit, and they've got a lot of shared experiences together now. The older players make it a comfortable environment for the younger players to come into. They set very high standards, but they also allow the younger players to settle in socially and allow them to be at ease. I think that's why the younger players come in, and they're ready to express themselves."
Saturday will be their biggest test yet. Kane and his teammates are determined to make sure it isn't their last.
Can Gareth Southgate lift England in quarterfinals?
"We're not here just to reach a quarterfinal," he said. "It's another step to try and win the World Cup. We have to be fully focused on that."
The lessons of the past could help get them there.
"They're important reference points," Southgate said. "We've had to come through many different ways of winning games, some defeats that have hurt that we've learned a lot from.
"You've got to produce the very best version of yourselves," he added. "The mentality is key, really, the belief and the mentality that we deserve to be there."
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Doug McIntyre is a soccer writer for FOX Sports. Before joining FOX Sports in 2021, he was a staff writer with ESPN and Yahoo Sports and he has covered United States men’s and women’s national teams at multiple FIFA World Cups. Follow him on Twitter @ByDougMcIntyre.
