England Reach Their Base Camp

Last updated : 04 July 2018 By Three Lions

A place in the last eight of the World Cup meets the minimum expectations placed on the England team at Russia 2018 once the draw for the finals had placed them into a group alongside Tunisia and Panama with a potential last 16 tie against one of Colombia, Japan, Poland or Senegal.

Even then, however, the apathy surrounding the national team meant that talk of getting out of the group stage was couched in terms of 'even England can't mess this up'.

Perceptions had in fact been slowly changing since the November 2017 double-header of friendlies against Germany and Brazil and a quiet sense of optimism has been growing throughout 2018 but it could so easily have disappeared had Harry Kane not netted late on against Tunisia or Jordan Pickford not pulled off his superb penalty save.

But those dramatic twists, allied to the more open nature of the squad and backroom staff, mean that the national team has re-established itself as something that truly matters.

The seemingly relentless rise of club football hasn't been checked but the World Cup as a whole and England's performances in it show that international football can still reach a pinnacle over and above domestic competition and the Champions League.

For all of the excellent work that the Football Association (FA) have done with the entire structure of England teams at all age levels and the success that that has brought in various competitions over the last couple of years, it still needed a headline achievement from the senior team in this World Cup.

The nerve-shredding success against Colombia has delivered just that and could deliver a bonus to the FA financially that allows them to invest more at the lower levels of the game while making the England team and their matches easier to market in the next few years.