MIAMI STADIUM \u2014 <\/strong>For England fans, this is always the year. Whether it’s a World Cup or a European Championship, they believe in their heart of hearts that their country, the one that invented this sport and then exported it to all the rest, will finally, eventually take its rightful place as champions.<\/p>\n Over the last almost 60 years, it just hasn\u2019t happened.<\/p>\n But the Three Lions have been getting closer. They were the losing finalists at the last two Euros. And with Saturday\u2019s 2-1 extra-time win over Erling Haaland and Norway, England is back in the World Cup semifinals for the second time in three editions.<\/p>\n This time, it doesn\u2019t feel like an outlier.<\/p>\n Watching England survive the crucible of Mexico City in last weekend\u2019s thrilling 3-2 victory over World Cup co-host Mexico, it was impossible not to notice the mental fortitude of Thomas Tuchel\u2019s team. And it was the same again on Saturday in South Florida, where Jude Bellingham, Harry Kane and the rest of Tuchel\u2019s stars won another match that was less of a soccer game than a street fight.\u00a0<\/p>\n That hasn\u2019t always been the case for England, who over the last 30-plus years has often performed beneath its talent level. That might be good enough to survive group play consistently or win an early knockout game.\u00a0<\/p>\n Against teams that it isn’t naturally superior to? No chance. There\u2019s a reason England has been eliminated in the World Cup quarterfinals more than any other national team in history.<\/p>\n This version of England is different.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span> <\/p>\n “The effort, the team spirit, the belief to overcome adversity, to dig in and find ways to win is on the absolutely highest level,” Tuchel said afterward.<\/p>\n He\u2019s right. And that\u2019s why England is, realistically, a bona fide World Cup contender at long last.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a visceral toughness to this team that, for all its ability, its pampered, high-maintenance predecessors lacked. Call it a willingness to fight for every teammate \u2014 even the ones who might represent a hated Premier League rival.<\/p>\n That matters more than most\u00a0think.<\/p>\n Argentina isn’t the reigning World Cup champ because it had better players, man for man, than\u00a0France. Man for man, it didn’t. La Albiceleste won because, time and again, they simply refused to be beaten. That sort of mental strength is rare. Add it to a selfless group that boasts legitimate all-world players like Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane, and damned if Tuchel\u2019s side doesn\u2019t stand its best chance in at least half a century this time around.\u00a0<\/p>\n Facing Switzerland on Wednesday in Atlanta would\u2019ve been easier, to be sure. But beating the best \u2014 to be the best \u2014 is a rite of passage, a requirement. And the defending champs \u2014 Argentina scored twice in extra time in Saturday\u2019s nightcap to set up the semifinal everyone who isn\u2019t English wants to see \u2014 are a fitting roadblock to have to somehow overcome.\u00a0<\/p>\n Should England clear that hurdle, it surely won\u2019t fear whoever emerges between France and Spain on the stronger side of the bracket. Especially if, as Tuchel believes, England still has another gear to hit.<\/p>\n In his post-match sideline interviews, the German manager raised eyebrows when he said he loved the result if not the performance against Norway. Asked about the exchange, it seemed to catch Bellingham off-guard.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Maybe he doesn’t know what it’s like to play in those conditions,” Bellingham offered.<\/p>\n An hour later, during his post-game press conference in the bowels of the arena that the NFL’s Miami Dolphins call home, Tuchel, whose previous experience has been at Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain, provided some additional context.<\/p>\n “I’m proud, and I’m happy,” Tuchel said. “But I’m also a football coach, and I also have demands.”<\/p>\n He continued: “I think we can play faster and play more clinical. There were unforced errors and technical mistakes in our game \u2026 so a lot of things to do better.”<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY MIAMI STADIUM \u2014 For England fans, this is always the year. Whether it’s a World Cup or a European Championship, they believe in their heart of hearts that their country, the one that invented this sport and then exported it to all the rest, will finally, eventually take its rightful place […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}