Theresa May has said she wants to honour England’s World Cup team with a reception at 10 Downing Street in recognition of their achievements.

Although football did not come home in the shape of the World Cup trophy after all, Gareth Southgate’s team won widespread praise for their exploits on the field and their charm offensive off the pitch.

Their performance in reaching the semi-final, where they lost 2-1 to Croatia after extra-time, was England’s best World Cup run for 28 years . Before Russia they had not won a knockout game in a major tournament since 2006.

ITV said the peak audience for Wednesday’s match in Moscow was 26.6 million viewers (an 84% audience share) and the average was 24.3 million (81% share), which it claimed was the biggest football audience on a single channel ever.

After people across the country flocked to parties at pubs, bars, gardens and public parks to watch the match, the country came down to earth with a bump on Thursday.

But there was no doubt of the players’ place in the affections of the nation, as illustrated by the fans who remained in the stadium in Moscow long after the final whistle to serenade the team.

With Southgate, Kyle Walker, Harry Kane and co credited with everything from making England fun to watch again to uniting a country divided by Brexit, the embattled prime minister may be hoping some of their shine will rub off on her.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest England played without the fear that seemed to hold back more experienced sides. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

Her spokeswoman said: “We would certainly like to host a reception for the England football team, who did so well in Russia, and that is something that we are going to talk to the FA about.”

Earlier the spokeswoman said May had been effusive in her praise for Southgate, who has won plaudits for his leadership, grace under pressure and intelligence.

“She thinks that he led the team fantastically and that the whole country should be proud of how far England got,” the spokeswoman said.



The national team’s performance in recent years had tested the faith of the most ardent England fans, arguably reaching a nadir with the 2-1 loss to Iceland at the European Championships two years ago. Many questioned whether Premier League stars paid tens of thousands of pounds a week really cared about the three lions that David Baddiel and Frank Skinner famously sang about.

But Southgate put his faith in youth and they repaid him handsomely, playing without the fear that for so long seemed to hold back more experienced England teams, and confounding the pre-tournament expectations of fans with long, bitter memories.

On Thursday morning Walker was in reflective mood. He said the players were “absolutely gutted” but the fans’ reaction in the stadium after the game showed what they had achieved.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Kyle Walker reacts at the final whistle: the England players were ‘absolutely gutted’, he said. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian

“I was there in France, in the Iceland game, and it was completely different to that,” he said. “For them to still be singing when we’re seeing friends and families, chanting our names and singing the manager’s name, is completely different. And I think we need to take full credit for that because we’ve changed that.

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“I think the football has brought the nation together, people are going to pubs and celebrating, and that’s what football should be about. It’s enjoyable, we all love to play the game and fans love to support it. So it’s hats off to us. It’s unlucky we couldn’t bring it home for them, but hopefully there’s time in the future.”

The mutual appreciation between squad and fans was slightly marred by news on Thursday that Fifa had opened disciplinary proceedings against the FA following a report of possible discriminatory chanting by England supporters during the Croatia match. The governing body did not provide further details.

Additionally, Avon and Somerset police said that during disorder in Weston-super-Mare at the end of the match, a 23-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer and punching a police horse three times.