This Is the England I want to Win the World Cup
By Musa Okwonga, The New York Times
I hoped this would happen, but I have to admit that I was doubtful.
On Tuesday, England secured a spot in the World Cup’s quarterfinals for the first time since 2002. What’s more, the team did it by winning a penalty shootout, which they had never done before in the World Cup. Today they are playing against Sweden to enter the semifinals. As I write this, I am beyond excited.
Here’s the thing: Even if England loses today against Sweden, this World Cup still feels like something of a triumph for England fans. Our team is, I’m sorry to say, known for screwing up. Reared on years of tragedy, we had very low expectations.
So that’s why since Tuesday’s victory against Colombia, people in England have been freaking out with excitement. A favorite meme is “It’s coming home,” a reference to the fact that football is believed to have been invented in England. Much of the country is in a state of euphoria.
At least that’s the impression I get from reading the newspapers, looking at social media and chatting with friends. I was born and raised in England, but I don’t live there anymore. Almost four years ago, I moved to Berlin. (I’ve written about that before.) Watching England flourish from afar is tough: I feel oddly detached from that unique energy when the country, however briefly, feels united.
This England team is particularly likable. An engaging, affable manager, Gareth Southgate, presides over a group of gifted, charismatic players. With an average age of 26, it’s the second-youngest squad in this year’s tournament. In short, they’re making me excited to see the English flag again.
Ah, that flag … a red cross on a white background. It’s known as the St. George Cross. My relationship with this symbol is best summed up by lyrics from Kendrick Lamar: “Loving you is complicated.” When I was growing up in a small town just outside London, the flag was one of the emblems of the English far right — nationalists for whom that red cross symbolized exclusivity, purity, whiteness. Whenever I saw it in the windows of a pub, it was a warning to quicken my step.
The current England team, though, couldn’t be farther from the vision of the nationalists who like to wave that flag. Of the 11 players who started the game against Colombia, six had parents of non-English heritage. Southgate himself has emphasized this: “We are a team with our diversity and youth that represents modern England,” he said recently.
I agree — and I disagree. I think there are several modern Englands. There’s the England in which Southgate delights. But there’s also the England of The Daily Mail and The Sun, two of the country’s most-read newspapers, both of which routinely spout anti-immigrant invectives. (The Sun’s xenophobic headlines have even attracted the attention of the United Nations’ human rights commissioner.) There’s the England that wanted to leave the European Union because of its treatment of African farmers, and then there’s the England that wanted to leave the European Union because it didn’t want immigrants from, er, outside the European Union.
I want Southgate’s England to win. That’s the one I’m cheering for.
The last time Britain was so united — during the 2012 Olympics — was followed by years of austerity, which eventually led to the toxic climate that resulted in the Brexit referendum. I am cautiously optimistic that this World Cup bliss isn’t another false dawn. An English friend told me that he’d never seen the country connect with a team like it has with this one. Another friend posted a thread that went viral on Twitter with a message I can get behind: Englishness isn’t just for people with white skin. It’s for everyone.
That’s good enough for me, and a future I want to believe in. And frankly, if England can win a penalty shootout at a World Cup, anything is possible.