England slipped from their horse at the last but, once they have cleared the grit from their eyes and stopped seeing stars, they may yet find it has waited for them. While the wounds of defeat in Wembley’s biggest game for more than half a century will smart acutely, there is little time for them to fester. In 17 months there will probably be another knife-edge denouement to digest and the task for Gareth Southgate, as the international calendar rattles along at uncommon speed, will be to ensure it is somewhat happier.
If Gianluigi Donnarumma’s parry from Bukayo Saka felt like the end of a journey, there may come an opportunity to present it as the continuation of one: perhaps a trampolining point from one World Cup to another. The coron…