LONDON, July 8: English media heaped praise on Gareth Southgate�s team for reaching the World Cup semifinals and told the country to cancel plans for Wednesday evening when they face Croatia seeking a place in the final.
�Wednesday�s cancelled! Fans go wild as Three Lions reach first World Cup semifinal for 28 years,� said the Sun on Sunday after England beat Sweden 2-0 in the Russian city of Samara.
The Mail on Sunday online edition said: �The Dream Goes On! England in ecstasy.�
It praised the emerging star of the England team, goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, for more �heroic saves�, and said 32 million people had watched on TV.
The Sunday Mirror paraphrased the song written when England hosted the 1996 European Championships, saying: �England are in the World Cup semifinals � could this really be the summer football comes home?�
The Observer said in its report: �At the final whistle, the victorious players converged on one another. It took a few seconds for them to gather their breath and then, finally, they could join the party that was already under way behind the goal to their right.�
Despite the euphoria, the paper found fault with England�s victory. �If we were to be picky, a legitimate argument could be made that England will need to play with more finesse if they are to harbour serious ambitions of winning this competition.� � AFP
