When the final whistle blew just before dawn, England had beaten Mexico in a World Cup classic.
Glasses were raised and strangers embraced in pubs across England that had been granted special permission to stay open.
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In living rooms and student flats, millions of people experienced something increasingly rare in modern Britain: uncomplicated national joy.
For a few hours, the endless arguments over the national budget, the revolving door of prime ministers and the country's political malaise fell silent.
England's victory did not erase Britain's divisions.
But watching the team sing their anthem song, Wonderwall, to cheering supporters reminded us of something every successful democracy depends upon: pride in a shared national story.
National pride everywhere is a precondition for good government. It is a battery that powers collective action.
All countries ask citizens to pay taxes, support difficult reforms and make sacrifices for people they will never meet.
Making such public policy becomes much easier when people believe they belong to the same national community.
Who is fully part of the country?
A key question facing Britain today is who is fully part of the country.
For too long, England has avoided this question, treating national pride as a choice between imperial nostalgia and historical apology, between a narrow understanding of Englishness and an England embarrassed by its own past.
The England football team offer a third way.
That team embody and celebrate the very diverse England of today, with Harry Kane wearing the captain's armband, Jude Bellingham dictating the midfield, and Bukayo Saka stretching defences with fearless pace.
