‘Celebrate our World Cup victory, England’s immigrant squad uniting us’

Rather than feeling depressed at England’s exit from the World Cup, fans should remember how proud the team, with players of mostly foreign descent, made us, says Brian Reade

Are you looking forward to watching England play for World Cup glory tonight? What do you mean, they were knocked out on Wednesday? They’re still in it. OK it’s not the final, and the chances are if the real France turn up for tonight’s third-place play-off they’ll finish fourth, but at least they made it to the final weekend, unlike Brazil, Germany and, erm, Scotland.

Still not looking on the bright side of life? Come on, you won’t have to hear that nonsensical soundbite “it’s coming home” until at least the 2028 Euros and besides, who wanted to win the most corrupt World Cup in history thanks to the vile Infantino/Trump love-in?

Plus, tomorrow night when the final is on, if you go to the pub you won’t be soaked by attention-seeking, once-every-two-year fans throwing their lager in the air when a goal is scored. Or, if you stay in you can watch Antiques Roadshow on BBC2 instead of torturing your ears by listening to banal cliches from co-commentator zombies like Lee Dixon.

Rather than feeling depressed at England’s latest painful exit from a major tournament, fans should remember how proud those footballers made them feel this summer. How they thrilled with their skills and offered hope by proving England are not that far behind the best in the world.

But most importantly, at a time when political grifters fool millions of ordinary Brits into believing that their biggest problem is immigrants making them poorer, those footballers offered a sound rebuttal. Here’s why. Of the 26-man England squad, 18 either come from abroad or have parents from outside Britain. Marc Guehi was born in the Ivory Coast and moved here when he was one, while Trevor Chalobah was born in Sierra Leone and came here when he was two. Harry Kane’s dad is from Ireland, Jude Bellingham is Irish through his father and Jamaican through his mother and Declan Rice is so Irish he played for them three times.

Ezri Konsa has a Congolese father and an Angolan mother and Jarell Quansah has a Ghanaian father. Nico O’Reilly, Morgan Rogers, Ivan Toney and Ollie Watkins all have a parent of Jamaican descent. Reece James’s father is a Grenadian-Dominican, Djed Spence is of Jamaican and Kenyan descent, and Kobbie Mainoo’s parents are from Ghana. Bukayo Saka’s parents are Nigerian, Marcus Rashford’s father is Jamaican and Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke have Nigerian parents. All of those players are eligible to play for other nations but they chose England.

Had Reform’s UK Deportation Command (which aims to remove up to 288,000 immigrants every year) or Restore’s planned mass deportations of two million foreigners been in place over the past couple of decades, how many of those players would be here today to give England a fighting chance of glory?

Before anyone swallows the lie about immigrants making them worse off they should reflect not just on how they would get treated in hospitals or care homes without foreign-born workers, but how much poorer this country’s talent pool and culture would be. This summer these footballers of mostly foreign descent have united England and “raised the colours” far higher than any plastic patriot with a pair of stepladders or political spiv with Union Jack socks could ever do. So, regardless of what happens tonight, lads: thanks. Job done.