HERE WE CRO AGAIN
As we watched joyous football fans smash up ambulances, thrash furniture stores of Swedish origin and jump through bus shelters on Saturday, The Fiver couldn’t help but bask in the warm fuzzy glow of wellbeing and bonhomie that has enveloped the country in the wake of England’s Ethics World Cup quarter-final win against Sweden. Goals from Harry Maguire and Dele Alli were enough to book Gareth Southgate’s side a semi-final berth against Croatia on Wednesday night, a state of affairs few saw coming when news that the waistcoat-wearing saint had got the England job was greeted by a nationwide shoulder-shrug and accompanying “meh!” less than two years ago.That was then and this is now, however, and Southgate, a man so nice he insists on helping old ladies to cross the road whether they want to get to the other side or not, has been tasked with bringing football home. It’s a big ask, although the World Cup FiveЯ suspects that even if it ends up heading to Croatia, France or Belgium instead, “Nord” and his players have already done enough to cement their reputation as England football legends … at least until they lose against Switzerland in the post-World Cup friendly scheduled for Leicester’s King Power Stadium in September.