World Cup 2018: Why football may truly be coming home

After finally breaking their dreaded penalty shootout curse in the round of 16 against Colombia, and a dominating display against a lacklustre Swedish side, England progressed to the semi-finals of the 2018 FIFA World Cup via a 2-0 win, where they never really seemed trouble to lose.

With a fierce display in the group stages, only losing to a Belgium side 1-0 with both nations fielding a weakened squad as they had both already qualified, a 6-1 smashing against Panama and a win against Tunisia in each of their other two group stage matches, England fans are singing out that football is coming home, and here's why.

Harry Kane's form

Without a doubt, the shining star in this England side, Harry Kane is the leading the race for the Golden Boot having scored 6 out of England's 11 goals so far in the competition.

After an incredible season in the Premier League for Tottenham Hotspur where Kane found the net on 30 separate occasions, leading his team to 3rd on the table, there has been suggestions from Kane supporters that he has reached the pinnacle of strikers and is, in fact, the top striker in world football. Even if that is a small stretch the Three Lions can almost always guarantee that the English captain will be able to beat the opposing keeper when they need him most.

With a player like this leading the line it's hard to argue that England cant go further than anyone expected in this competition.

Set piece threats

By watching any England game during this World Cup, it's clear to see that they've put a huge emphasis on their set piece ability.

Set pieces have been more influential in this World Cup than any from recent years with 43% of all group stage goals coming from either free kicks, penalties, corners or throw-ins. England have seemingly mastered the set pieces, netting over two-thirds of their goals from dead ball situations.

Their ability to win aerial battles, winning 58.7% of their aerial duels - only second to Russia - has seen them strike fear into opposition defences. England have not only scored multiple headers with both John Stones and Harry Maguire now scoring, but their set piece routines have seen defences looking frantic in attempts to stay marking their man leading to penalties due to holds in the box. If England can keep up their scoring rate from set pieces they'll be hard to deal with for even the most world-class defences.

Media encouragement

In recent memory time and time again we have seen England be overhyped by their own media, leading to unnecessary added pressure on the squad which resulted in disappointment after disappointment for players and fans alike.

We only have to look back to the last international tournament to see evidence in this; the Three Lions rode into the 2016 Euros on a 10-game undefeated winning streak throughout their qualifiers and many in English media were backing them to have a real chance of bringing home their first international trophy in over 50 years.

With a very similar squad to what they have now, the pressure of the situation was too much for the English stars as many of them looked like shells of themselves as they were knocked out in one of the biggest upsets in the tournament losing to Iceland 2-1, with players such as Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling not finding the net once throughout the whole competition.

The difference this year is not down to personnel but the lifted weight from the squad's shoulders as they now enter the semi-finals already exceeding expectations on how their tournament was predicted to have panned out.

---

Do you think England can win the 2018 FIFA World Cup? Tell us in the comments below!