It still felt monumental an hour afterwards when Gareth Southgate came out on to the Spartak Stadium pitch and raised his fist to the England fans who had continued singing, a salute and also a farewell to 28 years of a nation messing up these great tournament moments.

The first World Cup penalty shoot-out victory in four, just the second in a major tournament, the first won on foreign soil, and suddenly the English game is looking at itself anew with also the possibility of so much more.

Southgate’s team are in the quarter-finals of a World Cup finals, the favourites against Sweden, and now England and English football has to confront the enormity of what might be achieved.

The history of this England team, with the handbrake on for decades, a story of the same mistakes often made by the same people, is now changing by the day as Southgate’s players emerge as genuine contenders to be the 2018 world champions. They came back from a 93rd-minute Colombia equaliser in the tradition of the great England team of 1966 who, having won it once on that July afternoon at Wembley, were obliged by West Germany’s late equaliser to win it all over again.

There was once talk of long-term goals, and a clock of destiny somewhere at the Football Association that counted down to Qatar 2022 but now the clock ticks down to 5pm local time in Samara on Saturday when a remarkable opportunity can be grasped. Sweden are ranked 24th in the world, a spirited, well-organised bunch without a star among them who prefer the opposition to have the ball and seize the handful of chances that might come their way.