Still living on the fumes of a breathless end to the Netherlands’ victory over Turkey , I use the afternoon to take myself out of the football bubble for the first time this summer. You could almost term it a “day off”: I visit Berlin’s Mauerpark flea market; I walk around Schlachtensee, one of the closest lakes to the city centre; I sit in a beer garden next to a suburban football pitch; I eat hip but slightly underwhelming Georgian food. To crown it all I see a man wearing the cream and black Ipswich Town away kit of 1996-97.
This city never disappoints; like the rest of Germany, it has gladly opened its doors to Euro 2024 revelry while never feeling entirely consumed by it. Enough lazing about: it is time for my first England appearance of the tournament. I alight at Erfurt and jump into a car with Jacob Steinberg, who entrusts me with navigation to the team base at Blankenhain.
Either I slept on the job at a key moment or my iPhone’s maps application simply could not keep up with the journey; whichever you prefer, we end up taking the long route through beautiful cornfields, tiny Thuringian villages and menacingly potholed roads. All good fun as long as you are the passenger. In my defence we arrive in time to hear Luke Shaw preview the semi-final.
Watching from the side is Phil Foden, who is not scheduled to take part in today’s leg of the traditional media v players darts contest but challenges one of the pack anyway and duly cleans up. Omen or not, it feels.
