England's the semifinal was a great achievement, but the loss to Croacia was still painful. Still, the nation is proud about the team. Here's what the English press thinks about The Three Lions.

Martin Samuel, The Daily Mail:

For what was proved in Moscow was that this was no fluke. England were not some happy accident, some bunch of chancers who muddled their way to the last four via an easy draw and were then embarrassed by the company.
Croatia shaded this, but no more. It took them 109 minutes to get ahead. The game was decided by small lapses, by misses, by moments. It was close.
England led for 63 minutes of this semi-final, there were 46 minutes played out level and Croatia were in front for 11 minutes. The key 11, of course. The only 11 anyone will remember.
Yet what those numbers prove is that England were not out of their depth against one of the tournament's finest teams. Croatia are worthy finalists and if Luka Modric lands a third Champions League and the World Cup in the same season, he may yet be a Ballon d'Or winner.
But England, while beaten, were not broken. The absence of a playmaker of Modric's class was always going to be problematic whether now, or in the final against France, and so it proved.

Barney Ronay, The Guardian

Let’s not have any anguish this time. England’s four and a half weeks at the World Cup deserves a little better, even after a 2-1 defeat by Croatia in Moscow that was decided deep into extra time.
And no tears even at the memory of that goalscoring start when for a few moments the planes flew backward through the sky, the cats barked, the police horses meowed and England did seem to be heading towards their first World Cup final on foreign soil.
Gareth Southgate’s team played to their limits at the Luzhniki Stadium, as they had against Colombia and against Tunisia all those millions of years ago in the midge-mists of Volgograd.
In the end England found a superior opponent here, a team with deeper gears and with a mania to run right to the end. Croatia came out like warriors in the second half, the craft and winning habits of Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic starting to intrude like a firm hand on the elbow as the game ticked down.

Paul Hayward, The Telegraph

The worst outcome now would be for England’s campaign in Russia to be tossed on the fire with all the others. Blessings should be counted, when the angst wears off.
Save us from the kind of revisionism that ignores hard facts. One is that England progressed from a group stage exit in 2014 to a semi-final defeat in extra-time four years later. 
No country on earth would call that anything other than improvement. England lasted six days in Brazil. Here they survived deep into extra-time of a last-four game, succumbing to the latest goal they have conceded in World Cup competition - 108m 03secs, the time on the clock when Mario Mandzukic plunged the dagger.

Simon Johnson, Evening Standard

For the third straight game, Southgate decided to make no changes. It didn’t come as an enormous surprise given the first XI were fully fit and have been doing so well up to now.
England have had their fair share of history against Croatia. There was the misery of losing 3-2 in the Wembley rain in 2007 which ensured they failed to qualify for Euro 2008.

The manager that night, Steve McLaren, was known as the ‘wally with the brolly’ from then on by England fans.

There was no danger of Southgate having an unflattering nickname following his heroics out here in Russia.


Jack Pitt-Brooke, The Independent

Halfway to the greatest night in modern English football history. Halfway to a complete performance, halfway to proving that they could beat top sides, with young English players passing the ball and opening them up. It was halfway to Sunday’s World Cup final. Halfway, and so far from being enough.
Those facts, or rather that one huge fact, pulls the emotions in both directions after this long painful night at the Luzhniki. This ground that England were hoping to return to, to face France on Sunday. They were 22 minutes away from making it back here, before Ivan Perisic grabbed it away.
First there is pride, the pride of the England fans who stayed on to applaud the tearful players. That they got this far, this they came this close, and that they did so playing the way they did, with the players they have. The broader judgements can wait but this team has done more than anyone could have hoped for.


Matt Dickinson, The Times

They went down straining to adhere to Gareth Southgate’s progressive strategy, causing panic at times — and heart failure at home — in moments when suddenly the ball was being passed around the defence like a bomb ready to go off.
Stick to your principles, Gareth Southgate had told them. “Get rid of the bloody thing!” the country screamed as Croatia stretched a young England team to their limits, and beyond. It feels like we are all still learning this intelligent-football stuff — but, after this, we need to keep trying, don’t we?

Through all the tears, the regrets, the quibbles about this player or that, and what more could have been done last night, some of us could see clearly enough to recall where…