The Three Dads World Cup Wonderland

 Well, it’s beginning to feel like the latter stages of the World Cup. England are home and Birchy is turning over in his sleep pondering the fate of Southgate. There’s a comfortable feeling to it that we can finally relax. I agree wholeheartedly, this feels different. No more reaching, no more backs to the wall defending. We went toe to toe with the world’s best and probably deserved to win or at least take the game to extra time. We didn’t. Ruining my extremely close prediction of a 3-2 win AET - had Kane not Waddle’d the pen, I’d say that was a likely outcome. But Brazil didn’t win their game vs Croatia. It happens. But flukey draw and being miles away from all the other teams in the semis (ie 2018) this was not.  Alas, the same outcome though. Home and no silverware. I’m not in England and am able to have pragmatic perspectives on Southgate. There isn’t a magical manager named Jose that could come in and be faultless. Is Southgate perfect? No. Has he been ridiculously more progress

 Ah, that time again. The round of the World Cup after  England have exited. Normally this is the period of the tournament I enjoy the most, as I'm able to enjoy the football without hoping the best teams fail to make our path easier. This time I'm not as excited. Maybe in part, it is an element of hipocrisy - it would be easier now to boycott the climax of the tainted tournament. Indeed this idea did momentarily fleet into my mind, before I realised the raw shit-housery masterclass potential of tonight's Argentina vs Croatia clash. But the bigger reason I'm less excited about this part of the tournament, this time, is because we've gone and blown it. In previous touraments, our national psyche and national press have over-hyped us to a point of frenzy. We usually toil away for a bit, manage to haul ourselves nervously into the knock-out stages, grow wild with enthusiasm before bowing out. That cycle always presents me relief that we can just crack on and watch the