We might actually be able to win this thing.
From the fans to the players, that’s what everyone must be thinking after England’s epic win over Mexico – I know I am – when I genuinely didn’t feel that was the case before the game.
There was hope, of course. There’s always hope with England at a major tournament, but that performance has pushed us all further forward and given everyone, including me, confidence and belief too.
Before I went to the Azteca Stadium, and watched us deal with everything that was thrown at us, I didn’t truly believe England could win this World Cup – but I’ve changed my mind, and I think everyone else has too.
I still don’t know if we will win it but everything about the way we played against Mexico showed why we can.
In my experience as a fan, player or pundit, whenever England have done well at a tournament, there’s always a performance like that from us somewhere that lifts everyone, the whole nation, and makes you think, ‘wow, we can do this’.
I had it myself as a player at Euro ’96 when we beat the Netherlands 4-1 at Wembley and felt unstoppable.
I was thinking, ‘we can go all the way’ and that’s exactly how the England squad will be feeling now too, on the back of such an incredible result when everything was against them.
We fell agonisingly short in 1996 when we lost on penalties in the semi-finals but, 30 years on, there are plenty of reasons why this England side are capable of going at least one step further.
England are together – and adaptable
To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
This video can not be played
I’ve talked before at this tournament about how England have often relied on their big-hitters to get us out of trouble.
There is nothing wrong with that, and Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham delivered yet again with their goals against Mexico.
But to go deep at this World Cup we were always going to need the other players to step up too, and they certainly did that in the last round.
Every single player who stepped on that pitch at the Azteca played their part, and Thomas Tuchel did too with his substitutions and how well they worked.
I am 55 and I’d describe that display as the best team performance I’ve seen from any England side in my lifetime, particularly away from home.
It was an absolute pleasure to be there to watch it, because it was pretty much complete, with what they had to go through from the altitude and the incredible atmosphere, then going down to 10 men.
I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed togetherness or team spirit like that – to get a result in such a tough scenario. That’s how good it was.
It was brilliant to see more of the same with the clips of the players celebrating in the dressing room afterwards, when John Stones pretended to be injured before he started dancing with the rest of the team.
I loved the reaction of Tuchel too, when he realises it’s a prank, and it’s another insight into why this team means it when they say they are together, and the manager is part of that too.
Playing Norway in Miami is going to be a different challenge altogether but what we’ve learnt from this World Cup is, whatever happens in a game, Tuchel’s England will be ready.
I don’t look at this England team and think we’ve got a set identity, in the way Spain always dominate possession or Argentina are built around Lionel Messi.
Instead, we are adaptable. So far, we have just played the game in front of us, changing our approach depending on whoever we are up against and how the game is going.
Doing that has got us to the last eight, and I don’t think it should change now.
How do you stop Haaland?
To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
This video can not be played
It is very tempting to look ahead at who we might face in our semi-final – either Argentina or Switzerland – but we have got to get past Norway first.
I am feeling confident but I think everyone would agree that if we can stop Erling Haaland then we have got a much better chance of winning that game.
Knowing that doesn’t make doing it any easier, though – as Brazil found out when he scored twice to knock them out.
For his first goal, Gabriel has been criticised for not being close enough to challenge him for the header, but I’d say that is down to elite centre-forward play rather than being poor from the centre-half.
It is Haaland’s movement that gets him that space, and then he is just a killer when he gets the sight of goal, especially inside the box – but then his second goal showed why you can’t give him any room outside the area either.
He’s relentless, and I don’t think there’s a way of stopping him. Instead you have to try to restrict his supply, at source, where the ball is coming from.
Some of the England defenders who might figure against Haaland – Marc Guehi, Nico O’Reilly and John Stones – are his team-mates at Manchester City but I don’t think that helps or hinders them.
I honestly don’t think it matters whether they know him or not because we all know him – we all watch him every week in the Premier League. If you don’t know him by now, and what he can do, then what have you been watching?
He is world class, and pretty much the perfect centre-forward but you could say the same thing about Kane too. They are very different forwards but what is identical about both of them is their thirst for goals.
The form that both of them are in, it feels like it is going to be a shootout between two of the big guns, who are both eyeing the Golden Boot. Hopefully it’s Harry who gets to fight another day.
Alan Shearer was speaking to BBC Sport’s Chris Bevan
Related topics
