England 2 v Croatia 1 - UEFA Nations League

Sunday 18th November 2018
UEFA Nations League. League A. Group 4.
at Wembley Stadium
ENGLAND  (0) 2
Jesse Lingard 78, Harry Kane 85
CROATIA   (0) 1
Andrej Kramaric 57
Attendance: 78,221

England:
1 Jordan Pickford, 2 Kyle Walker, 5 Joe Gomez, 6 John Stones, 3 Ben Chilwell, 4 Eric Dier, 7 Ross Barkley (20 Dele Alli 64), 8 Fabian Delph (14 Jesse Lingard 73),10 Raheem Sterling , 9 Harry Kane (C), 11 Marcus Rashford (17 Jadon Sancho 73).
Unused subs - 12 Trent Alexander-Arnold, 13 Jack Butland, 15 Lewis Dunk, 16 Michael Keane, 18 Luke Shaw, 19 Harry Winks, 21 Alex McCarthy, 22 Ruben Loftus-Cheek, 23 Callum Wilson.

Croatia:
12 Lovre Kalinic, 2 Sime Vrsaljko (3 Antonio Milic 26), 6 Dejan Lovren, 21 Domagoj Vida, 16 Tin Jedvaj; 10 Luka Modric (capt), 11 Marcelo Brozovic; 18 Ante Rebic (7 Josep Brekalo HT), 8 Nikola Vlasic (17 Marko Rog 79), 4 Ivan Perisic; 9 Andrej Kramaric.
Unused subs - 1 Dominik Livakovic, 5 Matej Mitrovic, 13 Duje Caleta-Car, 14 Filip Bradaric, 15 Mario Pasalic, 19 Milan Badelj, 20 Marko Pjaca, 22 Josip Pivaric.

The previous meeting between Engalnd and Croatia was the goalless UEFA Nations League draw that was played out behind closed doors in Rijeka last month... and, of course, the one prior to that was the World Cup semi-final in Moscow, back in July, that Zlatko Dalic's side won 2-1, before losing 4-2 against France in the final (serves 'em bloody well right).
England had dominated the first half of the aforementioned semi-final, before Croatia upped the ante after the break to claim the day.

And this afternoon at Wembley, it looked as though we might have been witnessing a case of deja vu, as Gareth Southgate's team failed to capitalise on a good number of chances prior to the interval, before going behind to a Andrej Kramaric goal in the 57th minute, that looped over Jordan Pickford via a deflection off of Eric Dier, after the hosts had 'faffed about' and failed to make a clearance, as Kramaric was afforded way too much time and space to bring the ball under control, before turning and getting his shot away, almost in slow motion.

But it was fitting, that the final international match of what has been a great year for England, progress wise, that shortly after Jesse Lingard and Jadon Sancho had been introduced from the bench, a long throw by Joe Gomez was headed down towards Harry Kane by John Stones, who nudged it forward into the six yard box, where Lingard added the finishing touch to steer the ball over the line.

Domagoj Vida almost restored the visitors lead at the other end, but Lingard was on hand to clear his header off of the line.
With just five minutes remaining, Ben Chilwell whipped a left wing free-kick into the box, that Kane slid in to meet at full stretch and diverted the ball into the bottom right hand corner of Lovre Kalinic's net.
Cue pandemonium all around me.

All of the spurned chances and misses in the first half were forgotten about now, as the crowd celebrated loudly and proudly until well after the final whistle, because England had qualified for another semi final, this time in the UEFA Nations League, that will be played in Portugal next year.

Them there Croatians... they were a noisy lot

It's a tournament that had previously been dismissed as a series of glorified friendlies by some, until now, when it transformed into a worthwhile competition, offering the potential of some genuine silverware for England.
Not that the 78,221 who'd travelled to Wembley for an early Sunday afternoon, Sunday kick off, didn't all know that already.

Those fans also didn't need the 'enlightened' national press to point out the significance of chanting "Football's Coming Home!", to milk the moment of a smash and grab win over the Croatians, who had allegedly accused the English nation of arrogance, prior their World Cup clash, for singing their football anthem at the tournament in Russia.
FT: England 2 v Croatia 1
Of course, this being England, not everybody was ever going to be happy. Mr Angry on the train from Wembley Park to Kings Cross, was bemoaning the continued selection of Raheem Sterling, who (along with Kane) had spurned several chances in the first half. So I (ever so politely of course) asked him to: "Sit down and shut the fuck up!", and added: "I don't think that Gareth Southgate needs to prove that he knows what he's doing to anybody... not even you!?".

Certainly, England aren't the finished article as of yet, not by any stretch of the imagination; but they're making great strides towards a better place, and working on the many aspects of their game that have needed improving... and that, in my book, amounts to a hell of a lot of progress and a whole multitude of positives. 

I'm not easily pleased, but I'm actually blissfully happy about the direction in which Gareth Southgate is leading the national team in at the moment.
Long may his reign continue.