No, I think you can go further than expected but not win anything - class will tell in the end. This comes from a conversation I had at the weekend when somebody asked me to name a single 'world class' player France had. Off the top of my head I said 'Lloris, Griezmann, Pogba, Kanté, Giroud, Mbappé...' I hadn't even heard of Varane and Umtiti until I saw them against Belgium.
We've got a long tradition of 'big, honest stoppers' in the English game - John Terry has made an entire career out of it. But I think the game has moved on and you now need more than physical presence to dictate a game. Similarly, we need an 'enforcer' like Sergio Ramos.
As for Alli, when he scored last Saturday, I thought 'You lucky, lucky boy.' He's had a very poor WC but, as expected, one goal had the pundits drooling over him. As you say, the lack of any meaningful support meant that Kane has been decidedly average in this campaign - his goals against lesser teams earlier in the competition masking his deficiencies when up against 'proper' teams. Walker? Like Kane, asked to play a role he's not familiar with so the jury is out.
When things have calmed down, I'm sure we'll see/read that we've punched well above our weight in this campaign.
