Gareth Southgate has given England the great gift of turning despair into belief

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  • Room to believe: Gareth Southgate.

    Dumbs Gone to Iceland, Ice Wallies, Cod Help Us, England’s Greatest Humiliation, England’s Darkest Day.

    Whether Gareth Southgate’s charges now return from Russia with the World Cup or not, they’ve already achieved the impossible.

    It is only two summers since newspapers – august or downmarket, broadsheet and tabloid – agonisingly detailed the national game’s nadir. Sunday’s front pages were full of contrasting cheer and bombast about an ascension to the semi-finals that resided only in hope, rather than expectation, three weeks ago.

    For the first time since a special sun-kissed spell in Italy 28 years ago, the globe’s grandest competition has not elicited wild recrimination from the fourth estate. This is what a 2-0 triumph against Sweden can do for the mood.

    England supporters have been conditioned, by failure after futile failure, to expect nothing but disappointment.

    They are also meant to suffer heart-wrenching sorrow from penalty shootouts. Chris Waddle and Stuart Pearce in 1990, David Batty in 1998, Steven Gerrard in 2006.

    That onerous weight was lifted against Colombia last week.

    Confounding rock-bottom expectation is head coach Southgate’s great gift.

    A ‘Golden Generation’ has come and gone, leaving nothing but unfulfilled potential in their wake.

    The last occasion when English heads were held this high was Euro 1996. Halcyon days when football was first “coming home”.

    Southgate – the fall guy from the shootout then against Germany that killed hopes of cherished success on home soil – has shown leadership and dignity in a period when political figures wallow in the swamp that British discourse has descended into.

    Hard or soft Brexit, cast to one side as a fractured populace unites under one banner.

    Ruptures caused at Euro 2016 should have taken several generations to heal.

    England’s misadventure ended with debutants Iceland – the smallest nation to ever qualify – rebounding from Wayne Rooney’s fourth-minute penalty to inflict a 2-1 defeat during the round of 16.

    This wrenched out the stitches applied to wounds caused by the caustic failure at World Cup 2014.

    Both humiliations were endured under Roy Hodgson.

    Shame that was added to when initial replacement Sam Allardyce’s position was rendered untenable in September 2016 after one qualifying triumph.

    This followed allegations of impropriety about getting around Football Association bans on third-party ownership of players.

    To now be one win away from a first World Cup final since 1966, two wins away from following in the lionised footsteps of Sir Bobby Charlton and Co., seemed an impossible prospect on that inexcusable day against Iceland at Allianz Riviera.

    This isn’t a perfect picture. And Southgate doesn’t pertain to paint one.

    Rewind back to Italia ’90 and England’s progression to the last-four was not plain sailing, either.

    Stultifying draws against Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands was followed by a tense 1-0 win against Egypt to advance from Group F.

    From there, extra-time was needed to see off Belgium. Cameroon then came from behind to move within eight minutes of progression to the semis at their expense.

    In comparison, England’s contemporary run has been more mundane.

    Enlivening victories, late and heavy, were handed out to minnows Tunisia and Panama.

    The luxury of resting stars versus Belgium was afforded as Group G wound down in a game that both probably wanted to lose. Legitimate claims were made to being the better side against Colombia and Sweden in the knockouts.

    Sir Bobby Robson, Gary Lineker and Paul Gascoigne. Names who were written into England’s lore the last time they reached this rarified stage.

    Southgate, Harry Kane and Harry Maguire have already matched this legacy.

    The challenge is to secure betterment, beginning with Wednesday’s date with destiny against Croatia at Luzhniki Stadium.

    A country, until this ethereal month rendered weary by decades of  underachievement, now expects.

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