England’s World Cup squad will arrive at Birmingham airport this afternoon to a notable lack of fanfare, despite their exploits in Russia uniting most of the nation behind them. Supporters have been warned to stay away from the airport as there is no official welcome-home party, or plans for an open-top bus parade.

Some are planning to make the journey anyway, proving how much they have captured the public imagination over the past five weeks.

Summing up the national mood, Gary Lineker made a tongue-in-cheek-apology to “non-English football fans” and tweeted: “Football’s coming home is a fun song highlighting the lack of success of our football team for decades. No one really thought we’d win it. I totally get why you might think it was arrogance, but it’s more our self-deprecatory sense of humour.”

And so, in St Petersburg yesterday, England were soundly beaten by Belgium in the third-place playoff, losing 2-0 in a fixture famous for being the match no player wants to be involved in. Fans from Bradford, Cheshire, Stoke and Crawley, among others, had hung their flags on the side of the stands at the Krestovsky stadium as England made their last hurrah. But shortly after the final whistle they were folding them up again for the long journey home.

It was a deflating end to what has been a rousing tournament for England until their defeat to Croatia in the semi-final. It is now tied with Italia 90 as England’s second-best finish at a World Cup and will also be remembered as a missed opportunity after they led Croatia for more than an hour.

Around 1,000 England fans, including the omnipresent England band, were inside St Petersburg’s 64,500 capacity stadium. Before the start, the loudspeaker blared the Three Lions anthem and they were in full voice.

An estimated 200 England fans have travelled to all seven games in six Russian cities, covering a distance of around 17,000 miles in the process – for some an expensive and complicated route involving dozens of planes, overnight trains and lengthy car journeys.

Their hopes of watching England deliver their best World Cup finish since 1966 suffered an early blow as the side went behind after four minutes. Belgium defender Thomas Meunier diverted a cross from Nacer Chadli past the lunging leg of Jordan Pickford, which had the goalkeeper punching the ground in frustration. Belgium dominated most of the first half, their passing far superior, and England required a few impressive tackles from defender John Stones to prevent them going further behind.

But on 82 minutes the Chelsea forward Eden Hazard dealt the final blow after superb build-up work by Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne.

England fans continued to applaud the players, many of whom looked physically and mentally drained.

Fraud investigator Steven Crouch, 35, and his friend Kevin Heeley, 31, both from Birmingham, were reflecting on the positives. “We got caught up in World Cup fever,” Heeley said, “we have loved it. England really have performed way beyond expectations and they have re-connected with the fans.”

Despite now being hotly in demand on the after-dinner circuit back home, where celebrity bookers have claimed he could secure as much as £100,000 per engagement, Gareth Southgate played down his influence on the young team. “People view it as a sign of weakness of the coach but I think it’s a huge strength if you’ve got a team of leaders that are prepared to make decisions and take control of things,” he told BBC 5 Live’s World Cup daily podcast. “It’s great to pass the leadership on sometimes because there’s only so much energy everyone has and if you’re the manager that has to drive every decision, it’s brilliant to have a captain taking responsibility.”

Graciously accepting the defeat, Harry Kane praised his team. “I can’t fault the lads, we gave it everything,” he said. “We’ve closed the gap but today shows there’s still room for improvement. We’ve said that all along. We’re still learning, still improving.”



• This article was amended on 16 July 2018 because an earlier version was missing a “0” on the end of the £100,000 figure.

