There will always be an England

 

OK, so England didn't win the World Cup (again). There was considerable wailing and gnashing of teeth. But soccer is mostly about disappointment.  So they'll figure out how to live with it.

But a couple of days later, an Englishman did what Englishmen have been doing for decades -- he broke the world record in the mile. 

Remember that the mile is an English unit of measure, too. Because of that, the track mile race is not contested very often.  The 1,500 meter race is.  So when someone lines up to break world record in the mile, they probably plan to do it.

Josh Kerr did just that. He broke the record in the mile. If you haven't seen it, it's worth watching.

Here:

But getting back to England;  if you look at the mile record progression, ever since Roger Bannister (English) broke 4:00, it has been held by runners from England, the British Commonwealth (I can rope in Australia and New Zealand that way), and former English colonies (USA) for the latter half of the 20th century, until an Algerian and a Moroccan held it in the 1990s. The record that Kerr broke was set in 1999.

So it's a very British/English thing to hold the world record in the mile. And even though they didn't win the World Cup, Kerr brought the record home.