ARLINGTON, Texas — Across the past two World Cup cycles, as England has climbed from the nadir of 2014 to a pair of inspiring runs that came up short, it has been a national program caught between a proverbial rock and a hard place.
On one hand, the dogged pragmatism of the Sir Gareth Southgate era produced tangible results on the scoreboard, leading to a fourth-place finish in Russia and a heartbreaking quarterfinal exit in Qatar three and a half years ago. Interspersed with deep runs during the Euros, it's hard to deny that England has been closer than it has in decades to actually lifting a trophy.
