But hey, the dunderheaded majority seem to think that as he didn't score a goal when he should have, it's open season again. It's difficult not to conclude that the Daily Mail and Sun have a lot to answer for on the back of their relentless hounding of the player in recent years. It seems he's still paying the price for buying his mum a nice house, shopping at Greggs, driving a dirty car, flying with a budget airline and getting a tattoo."
Party already underway:
By Daniel Taylor of the Guardian
"At the final whistle, the players in red converged on one another. Gareth Southgate was locked in a bear hug with his staff and a party was already under way behind the goal to their right. England had booked their place in a World Cup semi-final and it has been so long coming – over a quarter of a century since the last occasion – it was probably just inevitable that they would soon be dancing on the pitch as well as in the stands.
"If we were to be picky, a legitimate argument could be made that, yes, England will need to play with more finesse if they really are to harbour the most serious of ambitions in this tournament. They will have to pass the ball with greater efficiency and maybe, in possession, show a touch more arrogance, in the manner of a side that really believes they can do it. France, for example. Or Belgium.
"For now, however, Southgate and his players are entitled to cherish these moments bearing in mind the last time it happened Bobby Robson was manager and Spitting Image's puppet of the England manager was a senile worrier called Rubbisho. Turin, 1990, with the penalties, Gazza's tears and all that, is written into England's history. This time maybe there will be a happier ending. England could be forgiven for wondering what glories might lie ahead and, on this evidence, they should not hold any fears about meeting Russia or Croatia in Moscow on Wednesday."
More surprises from England:
By Jack Pitt-Brooke of the Independent
"This England team keeps surprising us, and now they have surprised their way through to a World Cup semi-final. After keeping their cool in the chaos of Tuesday night, today they produced a performance that utterly disguised the nature of the occasion and the stakes. This was a World Cup quarter-final, against a difficult Sweden side, who finished top of a tight, competitive Group F. Stronger England sides have choked in gentler situations than this.
"But here in Samara, England won with a nerveless confidence and ease. The 2-0 scoreline should have been more but if fans at home were anxious that the margin was not bigger, the players never looked that way. They had an assured ease in the second half that felt barely believable.
"There was none of the sickening tension, the freak errors, the fear, the controversy, the calamity, the crisis, the stretched-out three-hour drama that always characterises England in these huge games. It was just so unrecognisable with English football history, so at odds with English football expectations. But then that has always been Gareth Southgate's point."
