Breakfast of Champions
England fans were at the pub at 7 a.m. pregaming for their huge Euro 2020 match with Germany . . . which kicks off at 5 p.m.
The last time the Three Lions made a deep run at a major international tournament was way back in the ancient age known as 2018. There, at the World Cup in Russia, they made the semifinal, prompting the English fanbase to go ab-so-lute-ly mental. “Football’s Coming Home” sang from every flat and we got one of the great memes of our time, when footage of fans going ab-so-lute-ly mental following an England goal went viral.
So far at Euro 2020, the atmosphere has been slightly more subdued. For one, there’s the COVID conundrum, which continues to limit stadium capacities in the UK. Then they were showed up by their Scottish neighbors to the north, who turned central London into their own dive bar celebrating their first international tournament appearance since 1998 like it might be their last.
Slowly but surely, however, the English supporters are warming to their task, as evidenced on Tuesday morning when fans at Sheffield pub could be found pregaming at 7 a.m. BST, a full 10 hours ahead of England’s round-of-16 showdown with Germany. In the immortal words of David Puddy: You gotta support the team.
Is it still pregaming if you’re not conscious for the actual game? Asking for a few friends. Despite the early start, England’s victory in the theater of day drinking is far from guaranteed, as they face the well-oiled alcoholism machine that is Germany. For the neutral, however, it promises to be excellent entertainment, win, lose, or blackout.