JLingz – or Jesse Lingard – is the footballer your dad probably loves to hate.
Young, hungry and slick on social media, he represents a new breed of savvy sportsmen – with undeniably incredible athletic flair.
Regardless, JLingz and his fellow squad members are going down in World Cup history:
Your traditionalist dad might think he’s ‘a bit much’ but his mum – and millions of fans watching the England squad end our 52 years of hurt – sure love him loads.
So much so, straight after Jesse text his mum to say he wasn’t coming home, because football almost certainly is, she got on a plane to Russia.
He shared the reunion post-match on social media (obviously):
Lingard captioned the video, feat. little heart emoji, as follows:
Because i said to my mum we aint coming home she came here she knows we aint going home because its…. [sic]
Now isn’t this just a perpetual loop of joy which makes your heart sing?
The mum and son duo posed for pictures post-match pitch-side too:
Lingard, who has come to represent the vitality, flamboyance and sheer joy of the beautiful game, also shared the video to Twitter – because there’s nothing like a good cross-post.
The 25-year-old from Warrington captioned it sweetly, writing ‘Love You’ to his mum, who must be as proud as punch right about now.
Just in case your heart needed to melt anymore, here it is again:
The celebrations came yesterday after England secured their place at the semis of the FIFA World Cup 2018, where we later found they’d be playing Croatia for a shot at the final and bringing the cup home.
The squad secured the win without, it seemed, breaking too much of a sweat.
This will be the first time England has reached a semi-final in a World Cup tournament since Italia 90, and all with a clean sheet yesterday against Sweden.
The Three Lions secured their 2-0 victory via two spectacularly executed headers, the first from Harry Maguire in the first half and the second from Dele Alli in the second.
Meanwhile, lots of people praised Lingard’s work rate, and even dubbed him ‘Mr Duracell’ for his efforts running the Swedes ragged.
It seems Lingard, like just about everyone else, now thinks it’s coming home too:
Lingard made his senior debut while on loan at Leicester City in 2012, and spent time on loan at Birmingham City and Brighton & Hove Albion during the 2013–14 season and at Derby County in 2015.
Before he started his own social media merchandise line, he represented England at under-17 and under-21 levels, before making his senior international debut in October 2016.
He plays the part as an attacking midfielder or winger for Premier League club Manchester United and, now, helping the English national team bring it home.
England will now face Croatia on Wednesday in their first World Cup semi-final since 1990. The winner will play either France or Belgium in the final on 15th July.
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A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.