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Thursday’s Hot Clicks: England Fans Stay After World Cup Defeat to Sing ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’

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Dan Gartland

Thursday’s Hot Clicks: England Fans Stay After World Cup Defeat to Sing ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’
Thursday’s Hot Clicks: England Fans Stay After World Cup Defeat to Sing ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ /

At least they’re taking it well

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Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images

England lost a gut-punch of a game to Croatia in the World Cup semifinal yesterday, ending the English dream that “Football’s coming home.”

Croatia probably deserved to win the game, considering how the only English shot on target in the first 90 minutes was Kieran Trippier’s free-kick goal in the fifth minute, but that didn’t make Mario Mandzukic’s game-winner in the 109th minute any less heartbreaking for the English.

The cruel thing about the World Cup is that England now has to wait another four years for a shot a redemption. The fans, though, are surprisingly taking the defeat in stride. The English supporters who made the trek to Moscow for the game stayed in their seats after the final whistle to sing “Don’t Look Back in Anger” by Oasis.

The song has become a popular message of resiliance following tragedies in England—Coldplay and Ariana Grande performed the song together at the concert honoring the victims of the bombing at Grande’s show in Manchester—and let’s face it, losing a football match is a real tragedy in England, even if the Three Lions have done it at every World Cup since 1966.

Right place, right time

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Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images

Agence France-Presse photographer Yuri Cortez got up close and personal with the action after Mandzukic’s game-winner. The Croats dogpiled each other near the goal after Mandzukic slotted home the goal in extra time that proved to be the difference in the World Cup semifinal and the celebration just happened to be in front of Cortez, who kept on shooting and captured some great shots.

Let’s get weird

The Rockies jumped out to such a commanding lead over the Diamondbacks last night that Arizona brought in infielder Daniel Descalso to pitch in the fourth inning. He ended up pitching 2 2/3 innings, allowing a homer to Colorado starter German Marquez.

Alex Avila came in to throw the final two innings for the D-Backs. The Rockies were clearly anxious to get home because Avila needed just 13 pitches to get seven batters to make six outs.

Bits & Pieces

Tim Tebow had a double in the Eastern League All-Star Game last night and his mom thinks he’s ready to play in the big leagues. ... Get a load of this giant crocodile caputred in Australia. ... An eldery Canadian woman accidentally stole a car for two weeks. ... Attendance at Wimbledon was predictably dreadful during the England-Croatia game. ... MLB has suspended its Papa John’s grand slam promotion after Papa John himself reportedly used a racial slur on a conference call. (He also resigned from his position as chairman of the namesake company.) ... Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh has a whole bunch of credit card debt and he’s blaming it on Nationals tickets. ... The field for the Home Run Derby has been announced and it kind of stinks.

This is a quality stat

The pain of being a soccer fan

And then the goose flew south to Croatia

Got him!

USWNT player Sydney Leroux got a pretty solid burn in on her English-born husband.

That’s just impressive, really

Are you sure that’s supposed to be Eddie George?

Shoutout to Senegal

Sports in one video

Happier times in England

If All-Star voting was based on teammate enthusiasm, Brandon Belt would have made it

Derek Holland and Hunter Pence cut a quality wrestling promo as a last-ditch effort to get Brandon Belt elected to the All-Star Game. It was a great effort on their part but Jesus Aguilar won anyway.

You have to respect Holland for getting all greased up and getting fake abs drawn on, though.

Bill Russell’s legend only continues to grow

A good song

Email dan.gartland@simail.com with any feedback or ping me on Twitter. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.

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Dan Gartland
DAN GARTLAND

Dan Gartland is the writer and editor of Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, covering everything an educated sports fan needs to know. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).

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