11 July 2021 • 11:20pm
England supporters react as they watch from the designated fan zone at Trafalgar Square in London
Credit: Matt Dunham/AP
There was only an hour till kick-off, but in the BBC One studio, Rio Ferdinand was looking bewilderingly relaxed. “I couldn’t feel any more comfortable,” beamed the former centre-half. “Best night’s sleep I’ve had in years.”
He certainly wasn’t speaking for England. In our house alone, fingernails were being gnawed down to the elbow. Hearts were pummelling like jackhammers. Stomachs were jumping with nerves, as if each of us had swallowed a troupe of performing fleas. We were about to watch only the second tournament final that the England men’s football team had ever reached. I’m not even English – and my guts were churning like a cement mixer full of jelly. So goodness knows how everyone else must have felt.