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Comedian Frank Skinner visited the English training camp at Bisham Abbey on the eve of Euro 96 to unveil a song he had written with David Baddiel and Ian Broudie, author- composer-performer with The Lightning Seeds
. ghetto blaster in the office of Terry Venables 'manager and played' Three Lions & # 39; on a cassette.
"It's a real tapper, is not it?" "Compared to the response of the players," Skinner writes in his autobiography, "it was almost hysteria."
The players may have been apathetic but "Three Lions" took off this summer in tandem with England. lead to the semifinal where they defeated themselves against the Germans in a shootout. He was even restarted two years later for the World Cup in France
(Incidentally, Skinner also claimed to have written a World Cup song for Scotland: "It's called Three Games" .)
[19659002] There was no escape "Three Lions & # 39; these last three weeks. With each step forward that the English have taken, the hype has intensified, the same have plugged the social media calendars, and claim that "it's coming home" – which sounded so hollow in previous campaigns in England – seem less and less illusory. Two years ago, there was a broken team under Roy Hodgson when Iceland kicked them out of Euros. Then came the condemned reign of Big Sam. And only then came Gareth Southgate
Nobody was expecting a revolution; He proved a revelation.
There is a youth and dynamism in England now, with players reacting to a more relaxed environment while possessing a strong temperament that makes them seemingly immune to the kind of hype that paralyzed other parties in the world. past years.
Ironically, the Belgians catapulted them into the weakest part of the table, where they had to face Colombia and Sweden rather than Japan and Brazil.
Southgate had the luxury of resting several players against the Belgians and although they had to make the difference against Colombia to go on penalties, the quarterfinal after Sweden was as comfortable as # He would have hoped. 19659002] 
Concerns about Jordan Henderson (hamstring) and Jamie Vardy (groin) declined on Tuesday as the two trained without problems and Southgate had a full panel and healthy.
Meanwhile, I really had to go to the well. Penalties against Denmark, penalties against Russia, 240 minutes of intense and energy-consuming drama and a good dose of controversy in the field for good measure.
Ognjen Vukojevic was fired from the team of coaches after a video was posted on social media from the former player declaring "this win is for Dynamo and for the Ukraine "after the dramatic victory against Russia.
Current defender Domagoj Vida yelled "glory to Ukraine" in the same video but escaped a FIFA ban from the team.
It was not easy to reach Russia. In the wake of the 1-1 draw against Finland, Croatia sacked Spanish leader Ante Cacic two days before the qualifying final in Ukraine.
Key players, including Luka Modric, criticized the coach
Enter Zlatko Dalic, who led the team to victory in Kiev, and then led a comfortable 4-1 victory over Greece at the play-offs.
At this tournament, they sailed through the D group without ever really reaching the top speed and a feeling remains that there is more to come from this Croatian team.
On paper, they seem to have the tools to ask serious questions at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow
The Southgate 3-5-2 system seems fluid and progressive when its possession of side lord, but the more cute players could still exploit the gaps in the channels that he leaves.
In Modric and Ivan Rakitic, Croatia have a pair of midfielder Rolls Royce who would purr any team. They will seek to feed the wingers Ivan Perisic and Ante Rebic, who will in turn be responsible for eliminating Ashley Young and the awesome Kieran Trippier.
Dejan Lovren had an absolute nightmare for Liverpool at the Spurs last October. He was at fault for the first two home goals in a 4-1 defeat (Harry Kane scored two) and was pulled out with just 31 minutes of play.
In fair justice to Lovren this game s & # 39; has turned out to be a turning point in his season. Much mocked, he is an accomplished player undermined by gaps in concentration. In the past nine months, these mistakes have become much less frequent.
He was excellent in the Champions League final against Real Madrid and was a consistent presence for his country in Russia.
dead bullets means that it will have to be lit up to the nth degree tomorrow night; their intelligent movement in turns has been incredibly fruitful, and it's a tactic that Lovren has been cold-tempered throughout his career
He will be targeted.
Four of England's 11 goals came from the corners. Three came from the penalty spot, and one more on a free kick worked well. They have made dead balls count like no other team in Russia.
Southgate was typically measured and calm on the eve of this confrontation. He, of course, missed a penalty in this German shootout at Euro '96. These wounds are deep.
"Football's Coming Home was a song that I could not listen to for 20 years," he said yesterday. "It makes a different sense now, it's nice to hear that people can enjoy it again."
There were several "shark jump" moments during this tournament as English media coverage is overdriven. London's desire to acquire one of Southgate's vests for its permanent collection in order to recognize the increasing popularity of the garment could be the tipping point.
As for the pressure, he wears it well. Everyone seems to know the score. They have seen everything before. This, fans of England believe, is their year. The manager is more down to earth, with a wink to recent history reminding his compatriots that his players have, really, exceeded.
"We made several pieces of history: the biggest win for England, the first knockout win for 10 years, the first quarter-final win for longer, and we're going try to keep breaking the barriers, "
" This has been a nice trip, so let's continue. "
Two teams that exceed and are impossible to separate – you can see this trip extend until you reach it. to penalties.
You can follow the FIFA World Cup until the end with RTÉ. Live blogs from each game on RTÉ.ie and the News Now app, with all the remaining games live on RTÉ TV and RTÉ Player.
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