Oh, England.

There is nothing quite like the drama of watching England during a tournament knockout match. France '98 was my earliest memory, and there's been little to celebrate since.

Last night, however, was more than a victory; it was an exorcism of so many penalty shootout heartbreaks. I can remember losing to Argentina in '98, Portugal in '04 and '06, and Italy in 2012, and I still can't quite believe we beat Colombia last night, especially after Henderson's telegraphed pen was saved.

The England football team provides me with so much hope and optimism every other summer (except for 2008) that always leads to despair. Looking back as an adult I wonder whether the nation's inflated expectations, encouraged by the cruel media, are partly to blame. Reaching the quarter-finals, while apparently not good enough, was probably about par for how good we were in relation to the rest of the teams.

How ridiculous that I, as a seven-year-old, saw this in a newspaper

England's “Golden Generation” has been talked about ad nauseum but I also wonder how that affected the team. Every country has pressure but to have to carry a label like that around, as the hitherto unsuccessful Belgium side are, must be a burden. Not only that but it also reinforces what is known as a 'fixed mindset' – a black or white view of “talent” which often shortchanges the believer.

What excites me the most about this England side, and their excellently-spoken manager, is that they seem to have the opposite mentality; a 'growth mindset'. Winning is everything in tournament football – there’s no doubting that – but the way Gareth Southgate dissects performances, and answers honestly during his press work afterwards is refreshing and encouraging. It isn’t a case of England being a certain level and let’s hope we can beat the next team. For Southgate, what we did right and wrong is just as important. Being brave enough to acknowledge mistakes and embracing failure are just two of many parts that make up the growth mindset. It’s coursing through this England team at the moment.

Southgate, having experienced the hype surrounding England during international tournaments, knows how important it is to keep level-headed, especially now that the nations’ excitement over the World Cup fever has rocketed. Last nights’ game versus Colombia was never going to be easy. Not because this is England and “we always make things difficult for ourselves”, but because this is the pinnacle of international football and you don’t get to the last 16 of a world cup if you’re a bad side.

Italy and the Netherlands failed to qualify. Germany didn’t get out the group stage. Argentina, Portugal, and Spain all went out in the second round. If England had lost last night it would have been disappointing, of course, but it wouldn’t have been a catastrophe. I wouldn’t expect England to beat any of the six countries mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph.

But we didn’t lose last night. We won. A penalty shootout – what a feeling! And now we turn our attentions to the Swedes – I love that Southgate mentioned Sweden, and how we’ve historically underrated them, in his post-match interview.

I refuse to look beyond the next game. It’s impossible to avoid knowing who England would/might play, should they win their next fixture, but it should never be spoken about, or even considered. Complacency breeds complacency and it will pull the rug from under your feet if you allow it in to your life. There’s absolutely no room for it in sport, especially not on the biggest stage of them all.

Incidentally, how great has this World Cup been? There seems to have been a shift over the last 5-10 years in the importance of the Champions League. Almost every player worth his salt plays in the CL every year and it has taken some of the excitement over the World Cup – where all of the best teams and their best players play each other to crown the best team – as the CL has become an annual club version of the greatest prize.

I’ll wrap this up in a second but I just want to talk about how impressed I’ve been by Harry Kane. (I was going to moan about how poor Henderson was during the match, and how Eric Dier was even worse but I didn’t want to focus on negatives. Pro tip: if you don’t take risks and play negatively, you will play badly. See: John Stones’ composure for an example.)

When Harry Kane started scoring seemingly every game for Spurs, I was intrigued but not convinced. He looked the part, did everything right, but he came from nowhere. Now obviously that isn’t true, he played for England’s youth teams and was around the Spurs team for a while (I remember him from some of the old Football Managers, where he never became that good), but he wasn’t supposed to get this good. Not like another England captain, Wayne Rooney.

Rooney is the epitome of what people think of when they see “talent”. He had everything as a 16-year-old and, while he no doubt achieved a hell of a lot during his career, didn’t seem to make the most of his talent. The same cannot be said of Kane who, scarily, is still improving.

I put it down to the fixed versus growth mindset. Now, I don’t blame Rooney – I actually think he’s a better player than given credit for, particularly as he’s so selfless – but growing up being told you’re essentially going to become the best player in the world can do strange things to a person. It’s not healthy. Kane, on the other hand, hasn’t had that spotlight. He clearly has a burning desire to be the best he can be, and always wants to improve at everything he does. I only hope that, say he wins the Golden Boot as I told Sophie I thought he would before the Tunisia game (should’ve bet on it!), he doesn’t forget how hard work has brought him this far – though I doubt he ever would.

So, Sweden. A 3-0 win would be lovely, thanks Harry.