Down the years, England fans have often been accused of being overly optimistic about their side’s chances at major tournaments.
But as Roy Hodgson’s men roared past Portugal with a thumping 1-0 win at Wembley on Thursday night, the signs that fifty years of hurt were on the cusp of coming to an end were all around. Sort of.
In the end, Chris Smalling’s late header was enough to seal a famous victory against a numerically challenged side, severely weakened by the omission of the greatest player in their nation’s footballing history.
At the other end, Smalling’s contribution was also telling. Having developed a dangerous liking to pulling shirts in recent weeks, the Manchester United defender showed he had learned his lesson from his FA Cup Final dismissal by discretely holding on to several Portuguese forwards, managing to gain an unfair advantage without being noticed by the referee.
That's what I like about Chris Smalling, he's as subtle as a brick when it comes to shirt pulling….#England
— Daniel Freeman (@danielfreeman83) June 2, 2016
Surely, such wily tactics will stand a well-stocked English defence in good stead when they cross the Channel later this week.
And what of England’s attacking options? Well, having demonstrated his predatory instincts inside the penalty area when playing for Spurs this season, Harry Kane was stuck on corner duties – a decision that Hodgson might want to reconsider before the Russian game.
https://twitter.com/amadoit_/status/738448323036741634
In truth Kane had a relatively quiet night. His corner aside, the only other notable incident involving the 22-year-old saw Bruno Alves nearly kick his head into orbit, an incident that earned the Portuguese defender a red card.
But wait, if Kane had a subdued evening, surely Jamie Vardy didn’t?
Actually, after missing the Australia game for his own wedding, Vardy struggled to prove to the world that he hadn’t spent the last few days comatosed on celebratory Blue WKDs.
But why should England supporters worry that their two most lethal frontmen hardly had a kick against Portugal? This is  very clearly the quiet before the storm. Expect them to explode into life when they face Russia next weekend.
And so what if Kane and Vardy lacked goal threat?At least Hodgson showed yet again that the diamond formation works.
Nice to see England trying different systems, but the diamond formation — looks great on paper — has mostly looked awful over past 18 mths
— Oliver Kay (@OliverKay) June 2, 2016
Having qualified for the tournament with a perfect ten out ten record and won all three of their warm-up friendlies ahead of Euro 2016, every Englishman can rightly look forward to the weeks ahead with a sense of confidence.
How can it possibly go wrong?
