Some may think they did it despite him. Some may imagine they did it for him. A precious few may even believe they did it because of him. None of that matters, really. This is tournament football. So all that matters, really, is they did it. Gareth Southgate’s England are once again in the European Championship quarter-finals.
Do you think the greatest football nations, the ones with many stars on the shirt, not just a lonely one, sweat the small stuff? Do you think they dwell, after every victory, on whether it was deserved and what it says about the state of the nation. No. It’s on to the next week, and the next round, and the tournament starts here. And it has to be
