Football is well on the way to coming home.

Well, there are still three games in the way of England securing their first World Cup since 1966, but not since then has the country been this optimistic.

The Three Lions even overcame their penalty shootout hoodoo, beating Colombia on Tuesday night in just that fashion.

Gareth Southgate's side will now face Sweden on Saturday afternoon, with either Croatia or Russia waiting in the next round if they do progress.

As World Cups go, you won't get an easier path on paper to the final.

Of course, one of Brazil, France, Uruguay or Belgium would be waiting in Moscow, but let's not look that far just yet.

It's been a tournament of many surprises, with Germany's group stage exit easily the biggest one of all.

It's the first time since 1938 that Die Mannschaft exited at the first round and the first time since 1966 that England have progressed further than them.

Three Lions supporters celebrated Germany's exit wildly, however, one German sports magazine has unexpectedly sent a message of support to Southgate's side.

Freunde 11 posted on their official social media pages a video of Germany's 2014 World Cup celebrations with the famous 'Three Lions' dubbed over it.

Their caption for the video reads: "Dear England, we’ve been massive fans of Gareth Southgate since 1996. Now we cheer for you. Greetings from ze beach!"

"#itscominghome #wewenthome."

Brilliant, just brilliant

And it's not like the magazine are small-time either, with their Twitter account alone recording 260,000 followers.

Although, you do wonder how many German fans will actually be cheering the Three Lions come 3pm on Saturday.

Even though Sweden ousted them from the competition in the group stage, the number is still probably pretty low.

But thanks, Freunde 11.