Having taken the oath of allegiance as a new American citizen last year, I’ve made a mild effort to care less about the failings of my old country, England. But the oath requires only that “I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject.” It doesn’t demand that I sacrifice my repeatedly forlorn hope that England will again win the World Cup.

That would be a bridge too far. I was 9 years old when England won in 1966, and my brothers and I gloried in that triumph over what was then West Germany. Every four years since, we’ve been disappointed as England stumbled at hurdles and never again returned to the final.