England fans across the South East have been celebrating the country’s dramatic 3-2 round of 16 victory against Mexico in the World Cup.
Following the match, which started at 02:00 BST on Monday, Mick Allen from Dartford in Kent said: “The World Cup is coming home! If I wasn’t on crutches I’d be dancing down the street!”
Connor Burns, who watched the game in Brighton, said: “I’ve got work in four hours, but it’s alright, we’ll do anything for our country.”
Graham Munro, who also watched the game from the seaside city, said: “The defending was so heroic, especially when we went down to 10 men.”
“It was so tense and stressful,” Munro added.
Rosie Hunt, who watched the game with Burns, said: “I felt like I was on a rollercoaster, it was awful!”
Ben Martin, Jarvis Stockford and Jack Martin watched the match together in Dartford.
Martin said: “What a performance from England again, getting through to the final 8 of the competition, chef’s kiss!”
Chris Michaelas, who runs Dartford Sports Bar, said the game “had everything”.
“Everything that you want for this time of the morning we’ve just witnessed,” he added.
“We’ve had goals, we’ve had penalties, we’ve had red cards, we’ve had drama, we’ve had suspense.”
He said England gave the fans “everything we wanted”.
“High energy, loads of goals, bring us all into Saturday now,” Michaelas added.
“Everyone in the country has got to get behind England.”
Nathan Pickering from Crawley, who was at the Estadio Azteca for the match, said it was “one of the best finishes” to an England game he had seen.
“The atmosphere was brilliant, there was constant chanting, constant singing,” he added.
Jodie Munday, landlady at The Malt Shovel in Horsham, said the celebration in the pub for the first goal was “beautiful”.
“I actually missed the first goal but I looked back on CCTV and watched it and it was just amazing, everyone was throwing each other up in the air and hugging each other,” she said.
Following the match, Mexico fan Rafael Onate, from Guildford in Surrey, said he had “mixed emotions”.
“To be honest I’m very happy, the guys lost with dignity, so they left everything on the pitch, but nothing to complain [about], it was a great match,” he added.
The Three Lions will now face Norway in the quarter-finals on Saturday.
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