now you see me - omc x mason mount

chapter 73 - final

The rest of the tournament passed as smoothly as an England team could expect when they reach the EURO 2020 Final.

The European Final. At Home. At Wembley.

A thing of dreams. The build up had been big but there was a confidence in camp that hadn't dimmed despite the outside noise.

Walking into Wembley that day would never leave Jake's head. The buzz around the place was electrifying, to see all their shirts embossed with the fixture was unreal. That's when it him home what they were really about to go and do.

"Do you know if your starting yet?" Mase whispered to him in the changing room.

"No, as always, changing room announcement for the middies." Jake smiled.

"Right lads, no big words from me before warm up, just the line up so we can all zone in on our roles and our jobs today. Pickford, Walker, Stones, Maguire, Shaw, Rice, Rivers, Mount, Sterling, Kane, Saka. We know our job, we know our plan. We need to be ready to execute. I'm not going to spout anything about this being any other game. It's not. It's a EUROs final. So bloody enjoy it and soak it in. What is the same as any other game is how prepared we are, solid in our plan and that it's 11 vs 11. Let's go boys." Southgate rallied. Chants followed as they exited onto the pitch. This was it.

***

The full time whistle went. 1-1. Shaw had opened England's account but they'd conceded a scrappy goal from a corner to let Italy equalise. Dec had gone off at 75 minutes and Kalvin had come on and really injected something into the game.

"Jake, I need a bit more out of you." Southgate said. "Jordan is going to come on but just give me 5 more minutes, leave it all out there." Jake knew he wasn't a penalty taker so would potentially be subbed. This was it, last contribution of the tournament. He sweated, put in some big tackles, kept Italy at bay until the board went up at 97 minutes. "Double substitution for England," the tannoy rang out, "leaving the field number 6, Jake Rivers. He's replaced by number 8, Jordan Henderson. And also being replaced, number 19 Mason Mount. He's replaced by number 17, Jack Grealish."

He saw the numbers go up, and Jake quickly jogged off, giving Hendo a pat on the back as he entered the game. Mase wasn't fair behind him. They didn't exchange words, but had a big hug in the dug out.

***

We know how this ends. Italy 3-2 on penalties. Total devastation for England. And a looming cloud of expected racial abuse for those players who missed a penalty.

A few players just collapsed to the ground, Jake went straight over to Marcus and wrapped himself around him. He'd honestly bet his life on Marcus when it comes to penalties, but these are fine margins, and we aren't robots, we are human. Jake knew how hard he'd take this and wanted to try soften the blow.

It was the strangest feeling, bodies of players just aimlessly wandering around the pitch, for what felt like forever. Southgate was out consoling people. Harry then, like the captain he is, rounded everyone up to do a lap to thank the 90000 crowd for their support. That's when it really started to hit Jake. He could feel the emotions building inside of him. He turned to his left and Dec had now completely lost it and had tears streaming down his face. That's all Jake needed to see and his floodgates were now open too.

So many fans had stayed to clap them; after the pandemic, life was starting to resemble some normalcy and after little joy for so long, England had brought that back to so many. Jake let tears roll down his face as he clapped the masses. The team had really wanted this and it hurt so badly. He felt an arm wrap around his shoulder. It was Gareth.