Watching and waiting for the thunder to pass, and deliriously sleep-deprived in the witching hour, in retrospect such a foreboding build-up ought to have prepared us for what was about to unfold.
England’s 3-2 victory against Mexico will go down as one of the great World Cup matches, an exhausting cascade that will be replayed in nostalgic slow-mo montages for generations to come. It was also the first real moment of the Thomas Tuchel era.
Only a few days ago he flirted perilously close to elimination to DR Congo and a resignation more humiliating even than Roy Hodgson’s.
Now he has a performance to pin to the wall, to show what a Tuchel England can be, which is to say unlike anything England have seen this century.
That is not hyperbole, nor is it exaggeration to suggest that any other iteration of England would have bowed out on Monday morning.
The altitude, the raucous home crowd, and the ghosts of the Azteca were already enough to overwhelm any of the brittle versions we’ve seen since at least 1990, but if that hadn’t been enough then Jarrell Quansah’s red card would have done it.
Instead England embraced the siege mentality, psychologically and, crucially, tactically.
This has already been billed as a victory of the intangibles – togetherness, comradery, fighting spirit – and while that is true the reason England could find those gears was distinctly tactical.
The England of old would have wilted, their confidence drained by sitting off and playing slow football from kick-off. This version did not because conservatism was the strategy, not the side effect of heavy shirts.
Tuchel knew to take the sting out of the stadium, and his players trusted that process despite the appearance it might convey.
The humility went to another level following the red card and a courageous decision to drop into a deep 5-3-1 formation, a move that would have been deemed unacceptably defensive at pretty much any other point in England’s history.
But Tuchel’s tactical acumen has already bought him credit, as has that unflappable sense of control; an ability to ignore the noise resulting from the simple fact that, unlike the Englishmen hollowed out by the role, managing England just isn’t the pinnacle of his career.
His two great strengths are intertwined. The easy confidence comes from the certainty of his tactical tweaks, the deep knowledge among the staff and players that if they follow Tuchel’s advice they will get results.
At the Azteca that extended beyond the starting pragmatism or the late move to a back five. Switching Declan Rice and Elliot Anderson around in midfield so the former could help out at right-back and the latter track Gilberto Mora worked well.
Introducing Dan Burn to defend against a team without height was smart. Both wingers re-introduced from the start played a significant role. Subbing off Harry Kane with extra-time still a possibility was bold, but it paid off.
So far this summer, every decision has. The players, fans, and media are quickly getting on board, falling in line behind a style of calm leadership that, again, is unprecedented in this job.
It leaves England looking and feeling self-assured; composed even under intense pressure.
It is a radical departure from the wobbly foundations that always underpinned Gareth Southgate’s side, both on the pitch and in anticipation of what was to come.
If Sir Gareth was still in charge there would already be unanimous fear Norway’s Martin Odegaard and Patrick Berg would slowly grind down England’s midfield, a fear that would gradually infect the players as the quarter-final wore on.
But with Tuchel at the helm there is no such angst, not after the Azteca, and as the Southgate era loses some of its colour by comparison a far simpler England story emerges.
One way to create a strong dressing room is a painstaking cultural reset and all the earnest Dear England stuff.
Another is to approach this thing from the opposite direction: invest in a world-class tactician and the quality on the pitch will automatically create the conditions for famous nights that bind the nation together.
England will believe they can swot Norway aside, can out-bastard Argentina in the semis, can sit deep and drag France down in the final. Can, not will. There won’t be any hubris in the camp, just a quiet self-assurance trickling down from Tuchel to his team.
This is a new and unfamiliar feeling for all of us, players included. But the significance of the Mexico win really can’t be overstated. After the thunder, an earthquake, and England are back among the favourites.
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