Mount's immense pride

Immense pride. 

That is what Mason Mount feels when he thinks back to the summer of 2021.

England may not have won UEFA Euro 2020 but the moments created during that month-long campaign will live long in the memory for fans and players alike.

The atmosphere at Wembley during the last 16 win over Germany and that semi-final victory against Denmark. The scenes inside pubs and sitting rooms across the country. The number of children watching their country play at a major tournament for the first time and then going to the park to do their best Harry Kane or Raheem Sterling impression. 

The summer of 2021 was special. 

But whilst England reaching a first European Championship final is something Mount feels extremely proud about, he was quick to stress that this is not the end for this group of players. The Chelsea midfielder believes there is more to come from Gareth Southgate’s men.

When asked for his overriding emotions when looking back on the summer, Mount replied: “Immense pride, I’d say. Obviously it didn’t end the way we wanted it to end. We are winners, we are hungry to win, so we are obviously disappointed. But if you look at what we achieved, there were some big achievements that we have never seen before in this country in terms of the Euros.

“We created some big, historic moments and to be able to share it with the fans and to be with this group, it was a special time.

“To look back on that time and really know that we did a lot of people proud. We gained a lot of valuable experience going forward and it was a time that we enjoyed to the most. 

“To spend the time at St. George’s Park and how much we are like a family, we bonded really closely [over the summer] and that is something that we will have together for a long, long time.

“To wrap it all up, there is immense pride in the fact we created history and we know that we can do big things with this team. To push on even more now. To want to go that extra yard. To go that one more. 

“We finished fourth in the World Cup, third in the Nations League and second in the Euros, so we are on a good path and the right direction. We just need to go that one step further.”

He continued: “We are very confident [that we can go one step further]. We have done it in a major tournament, off the back of a World Cup where the boys did very, very well and got to the semi-final. So to do that again and be in another semi-final, I don’t think we had ever been in two semi-finals in back-to-back tournaments.

“So we are in the right direction, we are on the right path to get even better and hopefully we can go that one step further and win something big, because that is all of our goals and something we want to create.”

England will continue their World Cup qualifying campaign tonight in Hungary, before playing in front of home fans once again at Wembley Stadium connected by EE on Sunday, when they welcome Andorra. The triple header will then conclude with a trip to Poland on Wednesday.