World Cup Countdown: Kieran Trippier's Stunning Free-Kick

97 Days to Go: Reliving Trippier's Goal That Gave Hope to a Nation

Remember that famous old song from the nineties about England and international tournaments? The one with Skinner and Baddiel at their best, singing about the 30 years of hurt since the Three Lions had last tasted international success?

Well, what if I told you that it has now been 30 years since that song was released, championing the arrival of Euro 96. That's right, the aptly-named 30 years of hurt has now, in fact, grown to a whopping 60 years of misery.

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🏆⚽️ WORLD CUP COUNTDOWN - DAY 4

When England's Kieran Trippier sent a beauty of a free-kick into the top corner to take the lead of their first World Cup semi-final since 1990, few would have guessed the fire it would light within the beliefs of a…

— Football Park (@FP_CentreCircle) March 7, 2026

For every English person around, our men's national team has fairly traditionally been underwhelming and disappointing. Where the Lionesses have done plenty of good stuff towards restoring our national sporting pride, winning back-to-back Euro's and reaching a World Cup final, the men who that song was originally written about have let us down time and time again.

But a certain Gareth Southgate's appointment as boss of the England side back in 2016 sparked a touch of hope, and his first tournament in the country's hot seat would spark a change in attitude that very few saw coming.

As we continue our countdown of the 100 greatest moments in World Cup history, we're moving on to England's 2018 World Cup run and a freekick that lit a fire under a nation.

England's Rise to Contention

England, by nature, have been pretty traditionally rubbish.

You would think that the country that invented the game of football itself would be rather good at it, no? Well, we were when we won the World Cup back in 1966 and have contributed some of the greatest players in the history of the game over the years, but since that crowning glory back in the days of old, the men's England national team have always been disappointing when it comes to international tournaments.

The year is 2016, and England have once again rocked up to an international major stage and flopped on their backsides. At Euro 2016, Roy Hodgson's England side panted their way out of the group stage and made their way to a last-16 tie with Iceland, who were backed as the heavy underdogs going into the clash. However, a Wayne Rooney penalty was answered by quick-fire strikes from Ragdnar Sigurdsson and Kolbeinn Sigborsson to dump the Three Lions out in a shock result and leave 'Woy' out of a job. This had come after an embarrassing group stage exit in Brazil, a round of 16 loss in South Africa and consecutive quarter-final exits in South Korea and Germany.

HT:#ENG 1-2 #ISL
Iceland come from early goal down to take the lead#EURO2016https://t.co/OccbGNVVju pic.twitter.com/KWiPBEJYjF

— FIFA (@FIFAcom) June 27, 2016

To compound the misery, Sam Allardyce was handed the job in Hodgson's wake only to be forced into resignation after agreeing to corruption by undercover newspaper reporters. His job was given to former Middlesbrough and England defender Gareth Southgate on an interim basis, and things looked rather bleak at the helm of the country.

After a strong spell of games under an interim charge, Southgate was handed the keys to the permanent installation as England's manager, and his first test was to head to the 2018 World Cup and at least put on a display that England fans could be proud of once again. This was 6 years after the British introduction of the Elite Player Pathway programme, which invested heavy amounts of resources into the development of the next generation of players from England, but this hadn't fully had it's impact yet with a litter of players that were the best available from the nation, but a far cry away from being the best in the world.

What Gareth Southgate would inspire them to do, however, set the precedent for a generation to come...

England's World Cup Run and Some Much-Needed Belief

A last minute goal against Tunisia, a demoltion job of minnows Panama and a 1-0 loss to Belgium set the lay of the land for England in the group stage, as they managed to scrape their way through into the knockout rounds to set up a clash with Colombia. After a tight, tense affair, England managed to hold them to a 1-1 draw after extra-time to set up a lottery that the Three Lions had been historically bad at... penalties.

However, Eric Dier stepped up amidst some Jordan Pickford heroics to blast England into the quarter-finals. It hadn't been easy getting there, but it was a single kick that had left the nation feeling rather inspired all of a sudden. In the next round, they were set to square up to Sweden where goals from Harry Maguire and Dele Alli helped steer them to the semi-final stage, marking the first time in 28 years that England had managed to get themselves into the final four of the World Cup, leaving them just one game away from a shot at glory.

The tension in the air as that semi-final got underway was palpable. England, for all the years of misery they had endured as a nation in major tournaments, were now just a single bout of action away from a straight shootout for the World Cup trophy itself. Standing in their way was a Croatia side dripping with talent, but still deemed as underdogs throughout the tournament proper, but the favourites to knock England off of their perch and set up a final against France.

And then came Kieran Trippier.

On this day 7 years ago… 📆

Kieran Tripper scored this free kick to give England the lead in the World Cup Semi Final ✨

HOW HAS IT BEEN 7 YEARS WTF 🤯pic.twitter.com/UGtYyn8pw9

— The 44 ⚽️ (@The_Forty_Four) July 11, 2025

In just the 5th-minute of action, the then-Tottenham defender whipped a beautiful free-kick from just outside the area into the top corner past a flailing Danijel Subasic to place England into the lead of a World Cup semi-final.

It was in that fleeting moment of wonder, that fans across the country now suddenly started to believe that their country could finally start to right the wrongs that they had gone through over the previous decades. Here they were, with the world watching, seemingly with one foot in the final of the World Cup itself.

Sadly, it wasn't to be for the Three Lions and they never did get into that World Cup final. A second-half equaliser from Ivan Perisic damaged their beliefs, and an extra-time winner from Mario Mandzukic broke England hearts.

But strangely, the same feelings of defeat that England had become accustomed to weren't quite as prevalent after this winner. Where before the media had been a cesspit of blame, disappointment and shame in our international combatants, the feeling now was instead one of pride and belief in the team.

If England will be able to win the World Cup, i think Cole Palmer will be the key pic.twitter.com/ibmFmmaA35

— Speedline (@speedlinexx) February 10, 2026

Flash forward 8 years, and that spirit and pride has metamorphasised itself into expectation.

Gareth Southgate wasn't done there as England manager. Though his next World Cup was a familiar quarter-final exit to France, he went on to guide his side to the next two consecutive European Championship finals where England would have their hearts broken on both occasions by Italy in a penalty shootout and Spain in an open affair. Goals in each final by Luke Shaw and Cole Palmer have gone down in history, like Trippier's free-kick against Croatia, as moments England began to believe in themselves again, but regardless of the disappointment a new dawn had opened up in the English ranks.

Southgate ceded his post after the 2024 Euro's final to Thomas Tuchel, a Champions League-winning manager with a successful pedigree in the game that carried a serious statement of intent - England wanted to win the 2026 World Cup, and would give everything to do it.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England before Gareth Southgate:

❌ EUROs 2008: Didn't qualify
👎 World Cup 2010: Last 16 defeat
👋 EUROs 2012: Quarter-final defeat (1st KO round)
🙃 World Cup 2014: Out in the Group
🫣 EUROs 2016: Lost to Iceland in last 16

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England with Gareth Southgate:

✅ World… pic.twitter.com/t4J6xY1V30

— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Footballtweet) January 28, 2026

The squad at their disposal is now simply world class, especially in comparison to the one dragged to that semi-final in 2018. Harry Kane has since ousted himself as one of the best strikers in history, whereas talents like Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka are amongst the best players on earth for their positions.

We are nosediving towards this World Cup campaign with a shocking amount of belief in our hearts. But who knows how much belief we would still have if it wasn't for a little set-piece back in the summer of 2018...