The last time England won the World Cup was also the last time the World Cup was broadcast in black and white. It was 1966, well before any of us college students were born, and even before many of our parents were born. It was a year in which England hosted the World Cup, and they won right there in Wembley Stadium. It was a time before Andy Murray had ever faced Roger Federer there for the Wimbledon and exactly 30 years before the iconic Lightning Seeds song, "Three Lions (Football's Coming Home)" worked its way into all of our hearts.

Certainly, it was a different time.

It's 2018, and football came home again. Not like it did in 1966: It's a different World Cup, one broadcast in color, broadcast in ways no one watching 62 years ago might have imagined. It's a World Cup hosted by Russia, something that would have been all but unimaginable back then.

And yet, football came home. England, suffering so much division in government over the last several days, rallied around their team as a country. Shops closed, celebrities cheered on the team, pubs were full... The spirit was there. England may not have brought home the cup this year, but I would say that wasn't really the point. Of course, the point of cheering for your team is always that they might win the World Cup, bring it home for real. And that would have been incredible for England.

But I would argue that, during a divisive time, making it to the Semi-Finals was almost as valuable. The team advanced significantly further than they have in recent World Cups, and the country banded together in a way that is not always easy to achieve, given the strain of Brexit, the protests of Donald Trump this week, and even simply the fact that we are globally undergoing significant division.

And England beat their penalties curse, which is perhaps the best part. If nothing else, it was not the penalties that lost the team a chance at the Final this year.

The point is, England brought the spirit of football home. The country brought back those goodwill feelings that come with a team we still belieeeeeve in and made everybody's favorite, Three Lions, hit the charts again. Even following the loss, the unity in the country is clear: people who cheered together are also crying together. It's a bittersweet ending, but luckily still one of unity.

Americans could take a page out of their book on this one, and try to find unity in these things that do truly unite us once more.
Maybe that unity can be found when we enjoy dancing and singing along to a catchy bop like Three Lions (Football's Coming Home). Or maybe it can be found in Labor Day weekend at the beach. Or maybe, for you, unity is on the metro on the way to work, maybe it's at a baseball stadium during the fireworks, or maybe it's at your local Target, at Wawa during Hoagie Fest, on the National Mall, watching the sunset... We can find unity anywhere, and to bring it back, sometimes all it takes is a collective dream. For England, it seems to be that the World Cup brought back something that many other countries, like the United States, fail to grasp.

And hey, here's a thought, for the first time ever, the English are probably France fans. How's that for a weird twist on unity?