The summer of 2018 will surely be one for the history books.
Love Island carried most of us through the football-less weeks as we saw Jack and Dani
become national treasures, Dr Alex squander more opportunities than Gonzalo Higuain
in an Argentina shirt, Georgia taint the world loyalty forever, and the trio of
Wes, Josh and New Jack/Black Jack/Oluwajack cracked us up constantly – however somebody
needs to explain how Laura and Paul ended up finishing second. Pink Gin became
this summer’s Kopparberg as it was rolled out in Wetherspoons’ across the
country, providing the perfect tonic for the summer heatwave. It felt like we
went 5 years without experiencing a single drop of rain, and sales of BBQ food
and charcoal reached record numbers. Probably. 
The crown jewel in the golden English summer was undoubtedly
the 2018 World Cup. Initially met with scepticism, caution and trepidation
(because, well, Russia), expectations were exceeded for several reasons. First of
all, the kit game was incredibly strong across the board, with outstanding
efforts from the likes of Nigeria, Croatia, Belgium, and Spain to name a few. Secondly,
the actual football played at the tournament was captivating. Strong underdog
performances from the likes of Sweden, Japan and hosts Russia made it a
tournament for the underdogs as bigger teams didn’t have everything their own
way – Spain, Argentina and Portugal all fell at the round of 16 stage, as well
and Germany fell victim to the champions curse (which struck Italy, France
and Spain before them) and were eliminated at the group stages. There was
an incredibly high standard of goals, with Pavard, Ronaldo, Quaresma, Nacho and
others giving GIF makers everywhere a reason to live. VAR turned out to be much
better than anybody thought it would be, proving to be a marked improvement on
the wonky-lined system trialled in the FA Cup last season. Ultimately, a golden
generation lived up to their potential as France avenged their Euro 2016 final
loss in their own back yard; Hugo Lloris had a fine tournament (final blunder
aside), Paul Pogba may have sent Graeme Souness into cardiac arrest, Kylian
Mbappe had his coming out party, and N’Golo Kante confirmed his status as the
most loveable man in football. If you think otherwise, you’re either from
Liverpool, Egypt, or you simply do not have a soul.
How can I talk about this past summer, or this past World Cup, without mentioning England? Gareth Southgate had the unenviable task of
following one of England’s most successful managers in history (try taking that
100% win ratio away from Big Sam I dare you) but he did so in style – and I’m
not just talking about the waistcoat. The former Middlesbrough and u21 manager
seemed to be the handpicked FA yes man whom they would use to try and implement
their performance plans, but he proved to be so much more. With a young squad, expereince of plast tournaments, a 3-5-2 and set pieces, Southgate achieved what
seemed to be impossible – he got everybody to care about the England national
team again. And he made Atomic Kitten slightly relevant in 2018. I’m not even
sure which is the bigger achievement.
Baddiel and Skinner’s Three Lions became
the soundtrack of the summer for a reason; ‘It’s coming home’ started out as a
cry of playful optimism, and this had turned into genuine hope and belief by
the time Kieran Trippier planted the ball in Danijel Subasic’s top corner. And to
top it off, it managed to rile a lot of other nations and Guillem Balague for some reason. Lovely
stuff.
Think back. How many times did you cheer for a clearance? How much beer did you throw away whilst celebrating? How many times did you call in sick to work the next day with ‘tonsillitis’? In retrospect, England coming 4th was the safest outcome. The chaos the country would’ve descended into if we had actually brought it home would’ve been immeasurable. And that, coupled with Brexit, would have surely finished off the country for good – even if it would’ve been so, so worth it.
Think back. How many times did you cheer for a clearance? How much beer did you throw away whilst celebrating? How many times did you call in sick to work the next day with ‘tonsillitis’? In retrospect, England coming 4th was the safest outcome. The chaos the country would’ve descended into if we had actually brought it home would’ve been immeasurable. And that, coupled with Brexit, would have surely finished off the country for good – even if it would’ve been so, so worth it.
On the way to that heart-breaking semi-final, memories were
made to last a lifetime. Kane’s winner against Tunisia was the start of him
shithousing his way to a Golden Boot with 3 penalties, a deflection, a rebound,
and a header from 4 yards out. Never change, Harry. There was also the
decimation of Panama, Harry ‘Slabhead’ Maguire stepping up to the mantle of ‘man
of the people’ by heading absolutely everything in sight, Jordan Pickford swearing
at everyone, Ruben Loftus-Cheek becoming a social media heartthrob, the
footballing side of the country uniting in defence of Raheem Sterling, John
Stones giving it large to the dirty (in a footballing sense) Colombians, oh and
WE FINALLY WON A GOD DAMN PENALTY SHOOTOUT!Your grandparents may speak fondly of the team of 66, and your parents may think of the Italia 90 vintage in the same way. Now, after the ‘golden generation’ has been and gone, it finally looks like the country has a national team it can be proud of once again. This young, brave, ethnically diverse group of lads brought euphoria to a country in such desperate need of something to smile about, and they did so in a glorious summer which will surely be talked about for years to come. Thank you, summer of 18'. You will be missed.
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