Tears before bedtime

I was probably tempting fate by making us all pasta for lunch, but it’s a delicious recipe and one we all enjoy, so what the heck?!

Once again a penalty shoot-out returned to haunt England with a cruel irony in the fact that it is quite literally the only foot wrong that Marcus Rashford has put in the last 18 months. It is appalling to hear that he, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka (who also missed) have already been subject to racial abuse. It is this side of the game that football has never been quite able to rid itself of which, in this day and age where we are all (rightly) encouraged to accept people for who they are rather than the shell in which they live, is unbelievably sad.

It draws the focus of the achievements of this still-young team, who today made history just by getting into the final. This team who have put us all through the wringer these last few weeks, but crucially have given us something to cheer about and get behind. Lord knows there’s been precious little of that to go around of late.

M’boy was in tears before bedtime, borderline inconsolable, but with tongue in cheek I told him that now he had witnessed England lose a penalty-shootout with his own wet eyes, he was proper supporter and welcome to the club. I also told him that this was not the end of something, but the start and these players will be the stronger for this experience as they head to the World Cup next year.

Fires may eventually burn down, but there’s usually a few embers amongst the ashes which, with the right encouragement, can reignite a healthy fire once more.

Well done, boys! Proud of you!