My Leeds United: England's World Cup dream ends in pain and pride

Looking back to when I first started adding items to these lists, it’s pleasantly surprising to realise that, actually, I’m not doing too badly. Travel is one area that’s seen a few items ticked off recently; I’d always wanted to go to America, so a whistle-stop coast-to-coast trip late last year was quite a milestone – and I also managed to see a Broadway show, which was another long-standing ambition fulfilled.

LUTV’s Emma Jones speaks to the YEP about life as a woman in the football media spotlight: Click here for more

There’s no doubt, though, that my main bucket list related to sporting achievements for the various teams and individuals I support. Here again, I’ve slowly but surely been able to tick off quite a few notable successes that I could only dream about as a hopeful teenage sports fanatic. I never thought I’d see a British Men’s Wimbledon Singles Champion, nor yet a British Heavyweight Champion of the World.

Both have come to pass, along with a League Title for Leeds United, a couple of County Championships for Yorkshire CCC, unparalleled success for Leeds Rugby League Club, and various other bits of glory over the past few decades. All in all, it’s turned out rather better than my youthful self might have dared hope – but naturally, there remain several unfulfilled wishes on my sporting bucket list.This past week, I honestly dared believe that I might be about to chalk up what is, without doubt, The Big One. It actually seemed that, for the first time in over half a century, the England football team could reach a World Cup Final – and maybe even win the trophy which has eluded them since that glorious summer of 1966. I was around back then, but at only five years old, the whole Boys of ’66 thing did rather pass me by. Having seen countless reruns of England’s extra time triumph over West Germany at Wembley, I can only imagine what it must have been like to see such an historic event unfold.

Until Wednesday, I really allowed myself to hope that I might at last find out exactly how it feels to see your country crowned as World Champions. As we now know, it sadly did not come to pass, with Gareth Southgate’s boys bowing out to Croatia in a semi-final they’d initially dominated. England being England, they let the advantage slip away from them, with inexperience at this exalted level eventually costing us all a place in tomorrow’s final against France. Instead, it’s a third place play-off for the Three Lions later today, with Belgium looking to beat us for a second time in the competition. Perhaps we can prevail and claim the relatively meaningless bronze medal position – though even this would make the young England squad of 2018 the second most successful of all time.

What we have won, beyond any real doubt, is renewed pride and belief in English football as embodied by a group of players many of whom have Yorkshire connections. That northern grit showed itself though some tough tests and, in the end, our national team has much to be proud of.

Anyway, the nature of bucket lists is that you really want to keep a few juicy items on there, still to be achieved. That way, there are always possibilities to look forward to; always that aspirational feeling of “maybe one day”.

Whether or not I ever get to see England lift the World Cup, the tournament of 2018 in Russia will live long in the memory, and it’s given our national game a solid base on which to build.

Good luck this evening England, and then a warm welcome awaits back home.