Enthused by an exciting young squad and a potentially kind draw against Sweden in Saturday’s quarterfinal, England fans are starting to believe they can end a 52-year wait to win the World Cup.
But the obdurate Scandinavians have a habit of upsetting the odds, particularly against England, having lost just one of eight previous competitive meetings.
Confidence in England is soaring after the team ended a long wait to win a World Cup penalty shootout, squeezing past Colombia in a tense and bad-tempered last-16 tie in Moscow.
“We’d like to bring it home,” said England defender John Stones on Thursday. “I’d love to win a World Cup, England would love to win a World Cup.
“It’s been a long time since we last won it. We want to make people proud back home.”
England, World Cup winners in 1966, have already won over a public disaffected by an early exit in Brazil four years ago and an embarrassing defeat to Iceland at Euro 2016.