Gordon Bennett! Say what you like about England – actually, don’t, be nice – but they rarely present us with a dull moment at World Cups, the drama more often than not bordering on the tragicomic. And, aptly, come the end of their meeting with the Democratic Republic of Congo in Atlanta, the BBC’s Guy Mowbray went all Shakespearean on us: “Cry ‘God for Harry, England and St George!’”, Kane having proved himself able once more. George, you might recall, was decapitated in the end, which might well have been the fate of Thomas Tuchel and his lads if they had failed to win on Wednesday. And with just the 15 minutes to go, a defeat was looking highly possible, the Guillotine being sharpened back at Heathrow. And all this despite a positively chirpy start to proceedings from the BBC crew. Alan Shearer had a feeling in his bones that this would be a good day. “It feels different, there’s an excitement, an expectancy,” he said as England took to the field. Mowbray agreed wholeheartedly. “They’ve been welcomed like The Beatles back in the day,” he purred. And Mowbray’s spirits soared further just five minutes into the game. “It might just be optimism deceiving the mind,” he said, “but it just looks brighter from England!” And with that DR Congo scored. It wasn’t quite on a par with that seminal Kevin Keegan moment at the 1998 World Cup when Michael Owen equalised late on against Romania (“There’s only one team going to win this now – and that’s England,” he’d said, and with that Dan Petrescu scored the winner for the Romanians), but it was close-ish.And the Democratic Republic of Congo, being a bit on the ambitious side, wasn’t in the script at all. “At some point during the game, Congo will need to try and attack, they will need to try and score a goal unless they want to take it to penalties,” Kaveh Solhekol had informed Sky Sports News viewers in the build-up to the game, intimating that England’s superstars would face so low a block, a bristling-with-fear Democratic Republic of Congo might well position 11 men in their penalty box for the duration of the game.In fairness, Joe Hart, on punditry duty for the Beeb, along with Wayne Rooney and Micah Richards, had hinted that the England machine needed more oiling – “I think the players have surprised Tuchel – and not in a good way”. But Richards was confident that if they could actually pass the ball to each other, and occasionally in a forward direction, then “I have no worries that they’ll get the job done”. DRC's Lionel Mpasi had a splendid game. Photograph: Getty Images And then the Democratic Republic of Congo scored. “You can see the shock on the England players’ and fans’ faces,” said Shearer, no one left more ashen-faced than himself and Mowbray. And when the lead was nigh on doubled, the woodwork proving more effective than Jordan Pickford, the pair of them were in need of sedation. “Why has every game we’ve done together been enjoyable – and then we get England and it’s borderline unbearable,” asked Mowbray, who gave a rather understated summing up of that first half: “It’s not going England’s way.”The lads in the studio didn’t know where to start, Rooney and Richards agreeing that Pickford should have done a whole heap better for the Democratic Republic of Congo’s goal. “It’s not a mistake,” argued Hart, “it’s just a difficult moment.” (Yes, yes, he was a goalie).Second half. Mowbray’s optimism had disappeared down the drain. “If England can’t turn this around, does this eclipse Iceland in 2016 and the USA in 1950?” Yeah,” sighed Shearer, “without a doubt”. But cometh the 75th and 86th minutes, cometh the man. Harry, of course. “When your country needs you, he has the answer!” bellowed Shearer, most hearts left in smithereens for the Democratic Republic of Congo goalie Lionel Mpasi who’d had a game for the ages.It was German coach Julian Nagelsmann who said the other day, even before that defeat by Paraguay, that “if you win, everything is good – if you lose, everything is sh*t”. This is true. Back in the BBC studio, Richards was talking like England had put on a masterclass, Rooney was hailing Tuchel for the bravery of his team selections, and all concerned were genuflecting in the direction of his hydration break chats with his players. If Kane hadn’t done his thing, of course, they’d have been likening Tommy to a turnip. “A reminder of England’s path to the final,” said Mark Chapman with a straight face. “Mexico in the Azteca, get through that and it’s Brazil or Norway in the quarter-finals, and then it would be Argentina, a lot of people would think, in the semi-finals.” The pity is that he didn’t tell us who England might meet in the final.