I think I somehow forgot that England can lose their semifinal. Belgium just lost to France and it was like a wake up call.

Up until now I thought that the teams I like and thought played well would just somehow triumph. Call it magical thinking or just good old fashioned naïveté. Belgium would win and then England would win and look at me, both of the teams I like are in the final and shucks I guess I’ll just choose England to win.

Pundits were predicting a Belgium win. Those same pundits predicted an England win. Croatia’s tired. They don’t have the depth and blah blah blah. As I read in an article just now, Belgium’s stars went missing tonight. Lukaku wasn’t dangerous. Hazard had some runs that looked impressive but, ultimately came to nothing. Dries Mertens came on for Moussa Dembele and started putting crosses into the box to make something happen.

Nothing did.

France is one of the best teams in the World. Their bench is more expensive than most teams. Their defense was great tonight. Umtiti (who also scored the game’s only goal), Varane, and Lloris were on their game.

All of this has woken me up to the fact that England can lose tomorrow. They can lose after a great group stage. They can lose despite being in the “easy bracket.” They can lose after breaking their penalty shootout curse against Colombia. They can still lose despite a strong showing against Sweden. England can lose.

Croatia is a talented, creative team. It might not matter that they’re tired. It’s the World Cup for Christ’s sake.

I said in my previous post that I thought Raheem Sterling was due. Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t. Maybe he’ll do nothing tomorrow and be due for a lot longer. We Harry Kane to score tomorrow and not just from the spot. Lingard and Henderson and Trippier, everyone, they all need to show up. And what if they don’t?

Here’s what I’m on about, as the Brits say. I’m realizing now just how much I want England to win tomorrow. I can’t put my finger on why. I want it for my English dad, even though my dad was a very calm and not particularly passionate fan (I’m far crazier about this than he ever was). I want redemption for the 1990 England team whose semifinal I watched over and over and over again on VHS. (And for some strange reason I feel like I want it for Paul Gascoigne, who was on the 1990 team and whose life has been a disaster ever since and it might be a nice pick me up before he tries to drink himself to death again.) I want this for some kind of validation for the hours and hours that I spend watching the Premier League year after year.

Look, England aren’t underdogs so I can’t really ask the neutral fan to join me.

There are a lot of England haters. I get that. Anyone from the UK not from England hates England and with good reason.

Germany fans? I’m guessing they hate England and if they don’t, they should.

Colombian fans certainly do now if they didn’t before.

I would imagine it’s the same for Swedish fans. Probably Danish fans because of, like, Scandinavian solidarity. Spain and Portugal? No reason to like England. I think the Russians hate England. Hell, anyone from Europe not from England will not be rooting for England.

But I’ll be rooting for England. I and every other British person you know who will become beyond insufferable if England wins the World Cup will be rooting for England.

I won’t do the lapsed Catholic thing and start praying because I still need to save that chestnut for health scares.

France are looking scarily good right now, so, even if England get to the final, there’s no guarantee that they’ll win. But I’m not worried about the final right now, I’m just worried about getting to the final. Tomorrow, it’s Croatia.

I want this. Good Lord I want England to win.

I’m going to be watching at work tomorrow and I’m going to be a wreck.