Soul Destroying Defeat In Berlin

England fans thought that they’d seen the light on Sunday night when Cole Palmer accelerated onto the pitch and saved the team from an early loss but the stars weren’t aligned and the tears started to shine….

As the glimmer shone from the Euros trophy, England fans saw this as their time to shine as their beloved lions marched onto the battle field, heads held high, game faces on. Nothing…nothing in the world could stop these fans from believing that it was coming home and as the stadium rocked and parties kicked off all across England, hopes were held high as the face paint was ready upon the children's cheeks.

Just minutes into the battle, England were hitting defeat, Spain were taking the upper-hand and showing off their Spanish talent, running laps around the pitch, in and out of the players and making Harry Kane redundant as they starved him of a stroke of the ball.

Leaving Harry Kane jobless whilst running rings around the right and left defenders, the Spaniards started to peel off the rose coloured glasses from all the Brits around the world. They showed the cracks and started to make them deeper. Every Brit started to think, “when is Southgate going to make it come home?”. Almost as if Southgate tapped into the minds of the nation, the highlighted board went up and in came Cole Palmer soaring across the pitch with one ambition and one ambition only….

GET A GOAL IN THE BACK OF THAT NET!

Oh and that he did, with ease, perfection and wonder!

The nation saw the light, beer flew through the air like it didnt cost £12 from the bar and it didnt take an hour to get it due to the pubs queue being out the door. But nothing mattered to the nation. All that mattered was that England had a goal, and a stunning goal at that, leaving the boys all level with the Spaniards with the chance to grasp that trophy with both hands and take it back home where it belongs.

Did we think we could pull a last minute screamer again like Watkins did in the Semi finals? Was that Gareths hope? Or was it the nations dream? Seemingly enough the Spaniards knew the tricks up Englands sleeves and murdered the Lions dreams quicker than the whole nation could eat a party sausage.

The ball ran past Pickford, laughing as it rolled, waving its hands at him and clinging to the net, never to let go…

But what was let go of was the dreams across the nation and the sadness in the boys hearts was etched upon their faces like canvases hung up in a museum for all to see.

In that 86th minute, England went silent…..

Not a shout

Not a cry

Just complete despair.

But if you listened close enough, the sounds of millions of hearts cracking across the middle echoed around the ghost town of the Country. But as everyone tuned back into their surroudnings, the screams bellowed off the walls of the pubs and heads suffocated in the palms of hands. Children cradled their parents as their shirts with BELLINGHAM and FODEN on the back stared at the screen with ultimate sadness.

The nation knew the answer. It was over….