Football isn’t coming home this summer.Gareth Southgate’s side may have united a nation but it ended in utter devastation with an extra-time defeat to Croatia in the semi-finals.And it all started so well.Kieran Trippier’s fifth-minute free-kick sent everyone back in England crazy.And at half-time, they were just 45 minutes from their second ever World Cup final - their first on foreign soil.But the pendulum soon swung in favour of Croatia.Ivan Perisic’s finish with a little more than 20 minutes remaining completely changed the game and there only appeared to be one winner as it headed into extra-time.
Croatia were supposed to tire as the match wore on having endured extra-time in both of their previous knockout matches.But that simply wasn’t the case and Mario Mandzukic sent Croatia through to the final with a goal in the second-half of extra-time.England had 11 minutes to save their World Cup campaign and they tried doing within seconds of Croatia’s goal. Literally.With Croatia still celebrating, Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford attempted to take kick-off suggesting to the referee that all of the opponents were off the pitch.
It’s something we’ve seen suggested throughout this tournament - that you can kick-off if all of the outfield players of the opposing team are off the pitch.
This rule simply doesn’t exist. Having said that, we have seen sides purposely keep one player on the pitch during celebrations, while Panama attempted a cheeky kick-off while England themselves were celebrating a goal.
However, not only were Lingard and Rashford brought back by the referee, they completely messed up their kick-off.
Why?
Because Rashford would have been ruled offside anyway.
Lingard played the ball through to his Manchester United teammate and, with no Croatia players in their half, he was clearly offside.
RASHFORD WOULD HAVE BEEN OFFSIDE...
FOOTBALL FANS ARE MOCKING LINGARD AND RASHFORD
And football fans have noticed this embarrassing attempt to scoring a quick equaliser and have been mocking Lingard and Rashford on social media.
You can't blame them for trying...