The figurative and literal storms have been dealt with. The training gear has been stoled and found. The weather has been acclamatised to and the tune-ups are out of the way. Finally for England, it's time for the action to begin.
Thomas Tuchel's side begin their World Cup campaign on Wednesday in Dallas against Croatia. The Balkan country, with a population of less than four million, have evolved from dark horses to a pedigree international side over the past decade. They reached the final of the 2018 World Cup and secured a third-place finish in 2022.
The last time these two sides met in a World Cup was in the 2018 semifinals, where Croatia came from a goal behind to win in extra-time.
To get the lowdown on the Vatreni and how they'll match up against England, ESPN spoke to South East European football expert Richard Wilson. He is the host of the History of Yugoslav Football Podcast and runs a newsletter covering football in the region. Wilson has also worked as a scout in South East Europe for clubs in Scotland, Portugal, Slovenia. The interview below has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.
Mood in the fanbase about the team:
RW: It's mixed and not necessarily from a negative way. I think there's two camps in which it's split.
In one camp, it is 'we've seen the last two tournaments -- third place in Qatar (2022), runners up in Russia (2018).' They still have an expectation that it carries on going [this time]. The other camp is probably more realistic, which is 'we've seen that, it can't go on forever.' They expect this tournament to be somewhat of a comedown.
This tournament is about sending a generation off, that's the key symbolism of this entire tournament. Six weeks ago, we would've said Luka Modric was going to retire at the end of the World Cup. Now you probably land in 75-25 that he will be because of what has happened at AC Milan. We're probably talking about not just the end of the road for him, but for (Ivan) Perisic, for (Andrej) Kramaric, for potentially Mateo (Kovacic) as well.
I would almost say 80-20 that it will be the end for Zlatko Dalic as well because his journey begins in 2017, taking a very flawed slide over and writing an absolutely incredible history-making story from there to this point. For him personally, he's not necessarily looking at writing the next chapter with all new characters.
Fan turnout at games:
RW: I think as we saw with the Bosnia game in Canada, the real big support for a lot of nations is coming from the domestic populations within North America and very much the similar is going to be true for Croatia as well, particularly in the game in Toronto. The size of the sport hasn't really made itself across the pond as it did to Qatar for a few reasons -- cost being one big one. And also just when the tickets were going out, that was obviously when a lot of the protests against ICE were going on. Put those reasons together and it's quite easy to dissuade yourself from spending a few thousand euros on going
Expectations against England:
RW: I think there is general concern that England aren't a very good match for Croatia purely in terms of the pace that's within the English side. But in terms of taking on England, I don't think there's a concern necessarily that England are going to absolutely batter them or anything like that. It's more thinking about themselves in terms of concerns about form, concerns about defensive shape and concerns about the individual performance rather than necessarily the ramifications of that performance.
I think one of the concerns that come out through the friendlies has been that what Croatia don't necessarily have is pace at the back and how they've tried to adjust to cope with that is to play three at the back, which they tried in the March friendlies. They played that against Belgium and 99% will be playing it against England as well.
It's not really delivered the performances on the pitch, just in terms of suitability of the players as they don't really have wing backs. Josip Stanisic is a very good full-back, but he can't really do the attacking side of that role. On the other side, we know Ivan Perisic will run all day, but he's also 37.
But if you're playing four at the back, then they don't necessarily have the pace in the midfield to actually give the defense the cover that they need so they can be very open. So what we're expecting to see is very much in swapping formations depending on the game, depending on the task.
England player(s) that will be key:
RW: I think we would really primarily be looking at the flanks. I think particularly (Marcus) Rashford or (Anthony) Gordon will be cutting inside Josip Stanisic into probably what most would say would be the more open flank or more open side of the central three of Croatia and to be able to find a bit of space there.
I think for England to have a good game, those are the areas that they need to exploit. We saw it against when Croatia played Brazil in the March friendlies, they were obviously up against Vinícius Júnior and they were ripped apart. If Croatia are able to get their possession game going or able to neutralize the English threat, then Croatia will be able to do well in that game.
But for England to specifically really, they need to focus on the flanks, it will be (Bukayo) Saka, it will be Rashford and those that are coming on from the bench that will be the key danger for Croatia.
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Croatia player(s) that will be key:
RW: Croatia is a side that does not necessarily have a lot of goals in them.
Luka Vuskovic, who is almost certain to start, will be one of the key players. Obviously he has had an incredible season at Hamburg and this is very much as a young player making your bow in defense against the biggest side in the group, it's very much a 'prove it' opportunity for him.
But at the other end of the park, I think it would be Petar Musa. Musa plays in the MLS, plays at Dallas, so he is at his home ground and has really made a case for himself over this last six months to be Croatia's starting centre forward, when previously it's been Ante Budimir. He is a big target man type, but compared to the other options that Croatia have in that role, he's a much more mobile type.
From a Croatian perspective, we hope that he'll be able to pull into spaces and allow players to run off him, run forward from the two attacking midfielders that they'll have to get in behind.
Luka Modric -- is he still as good?
RW: If you're drawing with Croatia after 90 minutes, history will show you that you will probably lose to them after 120. And the sheer energy and commitment that Modric brings as an example, as a figurehead is unmatched within football. I think even if you compare him to (Lionel) Messi, compare him to (Cristiano) Ronaldo, because naturally that's the generation going off the stage at this tournament, he has been able to play over the past season at a higher level than they have.
I don't think there's any question that playing at the sharp end of Serie A is better than playing for Inter Miami or in Saudi Arabia. Where he has lost a little bit is more in terms of his ability to play 90 minutes two times a week, which at the top end of European football, if you're doing Serie A, Champions league, that's what you have to do. He is not so capable of doing that anymore.
I think one of the great things about this group stage is six days between each game. So there is the appropriate time, travel excepted, for him to be able to recover to be able to give 75, 90 minutes each and every single game.
And the other side of it is as a backup, Petar Sucic of Inter Milan is an exceptional backup to be able to slot in when Modric or Kovacic, for who obviously fitness is an issue as well, have to take time out.
Score prediction:
RW: I honestly think it'll be one of the most boring, missable games of the tournament.I think a 1-0 England win wouldn't be a surprise; 1-0, 0-0 is where I'd be landing on it.
I don't think we'll be seeing much of the way it goes. If we go back to the start of Euro 2020 at Wembley, when we had England-Croatia ... it was extremely hot day, England went 1-0 up and then the final 60 minutes were basically a training game because no one wanted to use the energy. That would not surprise me at all if that happened again here.
For both England and Croatia, they know you're going to get your points to get through against Panama and Ghana and not necessarily against each other.