One of the most striking photos of England’s World Cup campaign was that of the players celebrating Kieran Trippier’s shootout equalling penalty.

All except Dier, who knew what was about to come – a kick that to many could define his career.

With the weight of Carragher, of Waddle, of Pearce’s misses on his shoulders, Dier calmly slotted his penalty away to create English history once again.

Before Russia 2018 even began, England fans were pessimistic about the national team’s chances of success.

Many predicted a last 16 exit, with a quarter final possibly the maximum England could hope for.

The FA released a statement pre-Russia saying that manager Gareth Southgate would not be sacked as long as they got out of the group stages. It seemed an odd statement at the time, almost downplaying England’s chances of success.

England had enjoyed a relatively comfortable pre-tournament preparation, with a friendly win over Netherlands in March, where Southgate’s side dominated, followed up with a draw at Wembley against Italy, where only a late penalty against them denied a second win.

Nigeria were defeated at Wembley, and then Costa Rica were put to the sword at Elland Road in one of the best atmospheres seen at an England home game for years.

The optimism was starting to creep in, but still some weren’t convinced.

Wins over Tunisia and Panama at the start of the World Cup were given little recognition in the press.

They said England should have breezed past both, which perhaps is a fair comment, but England put six past Panama.

They also had a talisman up top in Harry Kane who could score when it really counted, something England fans hadn’t seen on a regular basis since Shearer and Lineker.

England’s new look back five were also impressive, and Jesse Lingard scored one of the goals of the tournament against the CONCACAF opposition.

Kane had five in his first two games, John Stones had two, and England were beginning to look like a force to be reckoned with.

The Belgium defeat never affected Southgate or his players, yet they were still criticised by some for fielding a weaker team and not going out to win the group.

As it turned out, winning the group was never the best option.

The Colombia game was the big turning point.

Dier didn’t have the best game by his standards when he came on, but none of that mattered because he stepped up when it counted and England had won the shootout.

Trippier admitted himself that it was his mistake in failing to clear Yerry Mina’s goalbound header off the line.

That didn’t matter, because he stepped up when it counted, and England won the shootout.

Jordan Henderson had been one of England’s most impressive players up to that point, and it would have been cruel had he been the scapegoat for missing a penalty. That miss was all but forgotten because England won the shootout.

Plenty of talk pre-tournament, as has been the norm in England in recent years, was penalties.

If you’d asked England fans what they least looked forward to ahead of the trip to Russia, it would probably be the prospect of penalties.

But it is something, like everything this tournament, that Southgate and his staff have meticulously prepared for, and England were ready for it.

Jordan Pickford had notes for each Colombia penalty taker on his water bottle according to reports, and saved Carlos Bacca’s spot kick expertly.

Kane, Trippier and Marcus Rashford all converted their penalties with aplomb, Henderson’s miss the only blot on the copybook.

Jamie Vardy was due to take England’s fifth, only to suffer a groin injury towards the end of extra time.

Ex-Sporting man Dier stepped up, showing the new-found confidence from the English players, the belief that 2018 could be their year.

Suddenly, all the negativity stopped, fans started to believe as well and ‘it’s coming home’ became the country’s most popular phrase.

Sweden were next in the quarter finals, a side that did not have many star names on paper, but were an excellent defensive unit.

Southgate recognised all their threats and set up accordingly, leading to what seemed like a comfortable 2-0 win.

Harry Maguire’s towering header opened the scoring, typical of a player that has come on leaps and bounds since the start of the tournament.

Maguire was one of the Premier League’s most consistent centre backs last season at Leicester, but his place in the England side was one that was debated by the press.

Thankfully, Southgate trusted him all the way, and Maguire stayed in England’s first choice XI for the whole tournament.

Alongside Stones, who has no doubt cemented his place at Manchester City for next season, and Kyle Walker, playing in a centre back role for the first time in his career, they formed a formidable defensive partnership.

Then came Croatia who, despite Luka Modric’s comments on Wednesday night, England took very seriously.

They had to, given that Croatia’s top players play for Liverpool (Lovren), Inter Milan (Perisic), Real Madrid (Modric), Juventus (Mandzukic) and Barcelona (Rakitic) respectively.

Juventus’s Mandzukic put the tie to bed in the second half of extra time, one that in truth Croatia deserved over the course of the match.

After Trippier’s fifth minute free kick, Kane had a chance to make it two but for an excellent stop by the knee of goalkeeper Danijel Subasic.

Inter’s Perisic equalised in the second half with a toe poke at a cross.

Had the goal been ruled out for a high foot, few would have argued.

As it happened though, the result meant that the World Cup wasn’t coming home, this year anyway.

But as the song written by Baddiel, Skinner and the Lightning Seeds goes, the fear was that England were going to “blow it away, throw it away”.

They did neither, and were fully deserving of a place in the semi finals.

Southgate has said all tournament that his team isn’t the finished package, but this World Cup will give them a lot of encouragement.

Plenty of talk has been about the quality of opposition England has faced, but Colombia & Sweden are both top sides in different ways.

Are there any guarantees that the likes of Germany and Spain will perform well in Qatar in 2022?

The World Cup may not be flying back to England this summer, but the support from fans who previously never took an interest in the national side is there.

And there is now optimism that England can become a force to be reckoned with consistently on the international stage once again – does that mean that football has come home?