Crosses of St George are draped and beer-sodden around a bar near Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate. It’s six hours before kick-off and the sun is shining as a lively pocket of England fans bounce to the tune of “Let’s go fucking mental”, spraying Berliner Pilsner and Perlenbacher as they sing. Balls are pinging through the blue sky, bucket hats are shielding the sensible and two kids are holding flares that temporarily turn the crowd red.
One fan is dressed up as the queen, singing the national anthem with the same pride as he does taunting outnumbered Spanish fans with chants of “Stick your tapas up your arse”. Cardboard cutouts of Gareth Southgate and Jude Bellingham have people queuing up for a selfie. Most people are wearing England shirts with names from the present day and years gone by too: Fowler, P Neville, Crouch, Wharton, Heskey, Bellingham, Kane, Gascoigne, and there’s a Southgate Euro ’96 shirt too.
Optimism is the only vibe allowed. "What Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho had to go through with Saka three years ago was absolutely ridiculous and an embarrassment" “It's a funny thing,” Jonathan from Worcester tells me a little way back from the melee. “My Dad died last year.
When Walker was about to take the throw in Gelsenkirchen [against Slovakia] with a minute of added time left, I said to my Dad, Come on, make this happen. So I've got it into my head that it was my Dad that made Bellingham do the overhead kick, which is why I'm illogically conf.
