In Croatia, cabinet ministers wore the national football team’s famous red and white checkered tops to their morning meeting to celebrate a famous victory. Some 900 miles away, the English nation sought what solace it could in noble defeat as clean-up crews washed away the beer and tear stains of the night before.
Prime Minister Theresa May, who seemingly eschewed the opportunity to don a Three Lions shirt at the Nato summit in Brussels, reflected much of the national mood by heaping praise on England manager Gareth Southgate after his youthful side’s World Cup exploits came to an end in defeat against Croatia.
A spokeswoman for Mrs May, who revealed that the Prime Minister had been unable to watch England’s World Cup semi-final demise due to the Nato gathering, said: “She thinks that he led the team fantastically and that the whole country should be proud of how far England got.”
Honours
Asked whether the waistcoat-wearing coach should be in line for an official gong after taking the home nation much further in Russia than most had dared hope, the spokeswoman added: “In terms of honours, and things like that, there is an independent robust process for how that system works, so I can’t speculate about that. But, certainly she thinks he did a fantastic job and thinks the players and fans can look forward to a bright future.”
Such clear blue skies of promise were not immediately obvious to millions who returned to work yesterday after watching England’s World Cup final chances slip away in extra time, nor indeed the players themselves.
England captain Harry Kane tweeted: “It hurts a lot. It will hurt for a while. We can be proud and we’ll be back.”
Crime
The defeat to Croatia was at least greeted more peaceably than England’s quarter-final victory over Sweden, which sparked a spate of alcohol-fuelled crime last weekend as fans damaged shops, cars, buses and emergency vehicles.
The National Police Chiefs Council, which had ordered forces to brace themselves for further violence, said Wednesday evening had passed relatively quietly as fans left pubs and supporter zones “with their heads held high and without issue”.
The night was not without its ugly incidents. In Weston-super-Mare, a man was arrested for allegedly punching a police horse during trouble after the final whistle. Avon and Somerset Police said the horse appeared unhurt.
Domestic abuse
Emergency services reported a rash of calls after the final whistle and Nottinghamshire Police said it had made two arrests for offences related to domestic abuse.
The West Midlands Ambulance Service, which saw a doubling in the number of 999 calls to 240 in the after after the final whistle, tweeted: “Come on West Midlands, show some dignity & respect towards each other! Look how our 999 calls have rocketed after the final whistle with numerous assaults & fights reported. Our England team have been gracious in defeat, fans should be too.”
In London, the high water mark of post-match disorder appeared to be a 999 call relating to an individual who had climbed and fallen from a lamppost.
England: ‘Confident’ and ‘fresh’
Instead, the lesson of the night – and the tournament – for mournful fans was perhaps to be found in research conducted by Cambridge University Press, which analysed 12 million words of international media coverage to find the three terms most frequently used to describe the teams in the tournament.
The results for Colombia, widely criticised for their physical style against England, were “dangerous”, “unsporting” and “struggled” and the Croats were suitably rewarded with “dark horse”, “dominate” and “impress”.
In a finding that many disconsolate fans will be able to live with, the result for England was “Southgate”, “confident” and “fresh”.
Read more World Cup:
Why are Croatia so good at football with only a population of 4 million?
England v Croatia: 5 things we learned as Three Lions suffer World Cup heartbreak
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