Kent reacts as England's men fall short once again in bid for Euros glory

KentOnline / KMTV

Our reporter Bartholomew Hall was watching the drama unfold at the Harbour Arm in Folkestone.

Transcript

00:00Spain won Wimbledon, but they won't win this.

00:03Excitement, anticipation, and hope.

00:07That's all you could see here at Folkestone's Harbour Arm

00:09as Kent watched on to find out if England's men could achieve

00:13what had never been done by them before, winning a Euros final.

00:17Drinks poured, laughter served, and even the odd score

00:20prediction thrown about.

00:22We're going to win 2-1, 100%.

00:243-2.

00:252-1.

00:26I'm going to go 1-0 England.

00:282-1.

00:29Agreed.

00:302-1 to us.

00:311-0, I'm going to Penalty.

00:35Kick-off got underway here, and all that energy

00:37quickly turned into nervousness.

00:3958 years without a win in a major tournament,

00:42and for the second Euros in a row,

00:44the Three Lions had a chance to turn that statistic around.

00:48Nothing scored in the first half,

00:50so it was back to the drinks for halftime,

00:52a reminder of the welcome boost England's success

00:54has brought to the local hospitality industry.

00:58Tickets for this went in less than 10 seconds,

01:00and the screen site we've done since 2018,

01:03it was brought in for the World Cup then.

01:05There's nothing quite like it, because historic sport

01:08on a big screen, I think with everyone here,

01:11it's just the best.

01:13As the match resumed, hopes remained intact

01:15at the first whistle, but it didn't last for very long.

01:21A Spain goal sent the crowd here into silence,

01:25as England chances were beginning to slip away,

01:27and the doubt was starting to creep in.

01:30Then again, wouldn't be the first time this tournament

01:32England had scored after falling behind.

01:52A young, bright, and fearless Cole Palmer

01:55brought England back into the game

01:57and sent the nation's football fans into raptures,

02:00with those here in Kent being no exception.

02:03A welcome celebration or not, perhaps a little pre-emptive,

02:07as there was still 15 minutes of play left to go.

02:21The final whistle was blown, and this time,

02:24England's hopes were not matched with success.

02:28We played awful, we played rubbish, we'd never win.

02:31For the ninth year, I've never been up to sea.

02:33Will I ever see England win?

02:34Will I ever see England win a game?

02:36I think it was going to go to penalties,

02:37so it's not the best, but 2-1 at least.

02:40At least we got one goal in.

02:41We thought it was coming home, but do you know what?

02:43I'm happy we scored a goal, it was a laugh,

02:46and at the end of the day...

02:48Laughs good.

02:49Made the best team win.

02:50I can't stand here and say we deserved it,

02:52but you got into the tournament as favourites,

02:54you scraped through the group stage,

02:56scraped through most of the knockout stages,

02:58put in one good performance the whole tournament,

03:00and then we do that.

03:01The amount of pretentiousness in this team is...

03:03We have a future, but it's not with Southgate on the wheel.

03:06Anger, dejection, and even the odd shedding of a tear

03:09here in Folkestone, England have fallen at the final hurdle.

03:13Despite breaking the records to get to a consecutive Euros final,

03:17Gareth Southgate's men haven't been able to bring it home.

03:2058 years of hurt and counting.

03:23Bartholomew Hall for KMTV in Folkestone.

Category

Transcript

Recommended