IT should be a matter of complete indifference to Scots everywhere, of course, but it’s beginning to look as if England’s football team have a serious chance of winning the 2018 World Cup.

Aaaw naaw, you may say, but they have even broken one of their most baleful and long-running hoodoos and finally won a World Cup finals penalty shootout, against Colombia on Tuesday night to advance to the quarter-finals.

READ MORE: Is it OK for Scots to hope Anyone But England wins the World Cup?

There on Saturday afternoon they will play Sweden for the right to meet Croatia or Russia in the semi-finals – that’s right, England are potentially just 180 minutes away from the World Cup final in Moscow on July 15. Aaaargh!

And with the likes of their usual nemeses Germany and Argentina out already – Italy and the Netherlands did not even make it to Russia – England are now the highest ranked team in their half of the draw. Mammy daddy ...

It was revealed yesterday that an astonishing audience of almost 24 million people tuned in to ITV to watch that shootout near its climax in which English goalkeeper Jordan Pickford’s brilliant one-handed save was followed by Erik Diere’s clinching spot kick.

How rare was that? The Have I Got News For You? production team tweeted a picture of a snow-covered landscape captioned “Live scenes from Hell as England win penalty shootout”.

Until Tuesday night, most of the English press and media were taking their cue from England’s impressive young manager Gareth Southgate and playing down English expectations, but yesterday the pundits and headline writers alike were allowing themselves the chance to think of ultimate glory.

“Maybe it is coming home” said The Sun in a reference to the famous number one hit by comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner. Their 1996 song Three Lions containing the line “football’s coming home” shot to the top of the iTunes chart yesterday following England’s victory over Colombia.

The duo’s 1998 reworking of the hit with The Lightning Seeds, which was issued to mark that year’s World Cup in France, has also entered the top 10.

Baddiel, now 54, reacted to the news by retweeting a screenshot of the chart, adding: “Blimey. Again.”

The England fans really do believe. According to Twitter, there were 500,000 tweets in the 24 hours after the match mentioning “coming home”.

One fan joked – or was he joking? – on Twitter that Gatwick Airport should be renamed Southgate International should England win the Cup.

One paper reported in all seriousness that Vladimir Putin would be asking Prime Minister Theresa May to change her mind and come to the final if England make it – the nerve of him ...

Many observers are waiting to see how Scots react to England’s progress. One Celtic fan said: “Sweden – get Henrik Larsson fast!”

Parkhead legend Larsson is 46.