alive.
Pre-tournament build-up and anticipation—the kind we are in the midst of ahead of Euro 2016—is exciting, but it has nothing on seeing your country actually deliver on such a big stage. Daniel Sturridge and Wayne Rooney's respective equalisers against Italy and Uruguay ignited England's participation in Brazil, creating that intoxicating, shared rush of joy so unique to international competition.
Rather than fan the flames of a summer to remember, though, they were to prove an all-too-brief flickering.