ɢᴏᴏᴅ ᴛɪᴍᴇꜱ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ꜱᴇᴇᴍᴇᴅ ꜱᴏ ɢᴏᴏᴅ

PART EIGHT - CHAPTER TWO; MASON MOUNT

PART EIGHT – CHAPTER TWO;

MASON MOUNT

9th July – 12th July

The monumental win to take them into the final is starting to weigh heavy on some of the boys as they head ever closer towards the final on the 11th July. However even with all the preparations and additional training it still isn't enough for the team. England lose to Italy on Penalties after the toughest match of the tournament.

Declan Rice, Mason Mount and John Stones all start for the final time for England while Ben Chilwell isn't even picked for the squad. Declan and Mason have to watch the defeat on the bench after both being subbed off late in the match.

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Livid.

If Sophia could sum up in one word how she felt watching the Italy match unfold it would be livid.

The team had played dirty, the ref had made more than a few poor decisions and the players played exceptionally well but it still wasn't enough.

Liam had shouted more abuse than she had ever heard come out of his mouth towards the Italian bench and Josh had ended up cowering down covering his face when the penalties were taken.

She just couldn't quite believe that this was how it ended, how unfair it all was and how now she had to see the team after this and try and find the words to say to make it better.

But as she looked towards Mason, the upset etched upon his face, especially after being subbed off so late on in the match, if anything she just wanted to make him feel better

*

"You were exceptional" Ruby said with a smile as Mason looked at her "honestly when you were subbed off we were fuming but there would have been nothing you could have done, that ref was a knob" she said with a stern face which made him smile.

It was very rare for him to hear Ruby angry, however he didn't mind her being angry like this rather than being on the receiving end of it.

He had found himself having a few conversations like this tonight, people offering him words of wisdom and reassuring him, and even though it felt good in the moment it was completely surface level.

His dad had pulled him to one side earlier trying to give his best fatherly advice and he appreciated the effort taken but it didn't make it any better in the long run, if anything it made him question things more.

Could he have done more in the early part of the match?

Should he have maybe passed the ball a bit more?

Should he have maybe been more selfish at times?

Could he have changed the play if he hadn't been subbed off?

Should he have taken a penalty?

But he knew he couldn't live in a world of what ifs; it wasn't healthy for him.

He needed to just get through the night and tomorrow would be a new day and a new chapter and he could turn his back on the Euro's for a little while at least and just shut off for the summer.

It didn't help either how upset his mum was, he tried to console her which only made her feel guilty, his sister also teary too, which just made him feel bad.

He stood with them for a while as they all doted on him and even though normally he would like it, right now he didn't want that kind of attention.

He had seen Sophia head off outside and he wanted to go and follow her, but he knew he couldn't just leave, he didn't want to seem rude, even to his family.