England has a team and a coach to be proud of

Editorial: A quarter-final exit is wearyingly familiar, but this time, it feels different

That he is, arguably, as much a public figure as a football coach, a diplomat more than a tactician, speaks to the neuroses of British society (Reuters)

Disappointment is a feeling to which England football fans need no fresh introductions. But we are having to learn to live with a new one too: hope. And real hope, not the futile hope of many decades gone. England were second best to the world champions, but it was a close contest. France were rattled, and on a different night, they might have lost.

This, to be blunt, is not how it was for a very long time. But it is how it looks set to be for a fair while yet. England’s young team remains an inspiration in so many ways. United off and on the pitch, champions of social justice and very easy to like and admire. These qualities are well established now, taken almost for granted. But they, for the most part, have long, good years ahead of them.

What is new is that the England football team is no longer seemingly destined to be less than the sum of its parts, that the team is at home – almost – amongst the big boys and the big boys respect them.