Waiting outside the packed Stade de Geneve during Tuesday night’s semi-final between England and Italy was a unique experience.
Loud cheers and competing chants of “come on England” and “Italia” were in the 96th minute replaced by an almighty roar that lasted a full 30 seconds.
I furiously refreshed the BBC Sport live page, wondering what on earth had happened.
Michelle Agyemang had scored the equaliser.
I had been expecting to interview disappointed England fans heading back to their hotels in Geneva to book early trains and flights home. Instead, I had to make another plan.
Already, I had spoken to a few people leaving the match early to get a head start on the crowds.
“I feel like they’ve got it in them, they’re going to win,” Kaz told me on her way out.
Kaz clearly knew something I didn’t.
Three minutes later, when Chloe Kelly scored in extra time, I thought “how do England keep doing this?” It seemed I wasn’t the only one.
“Honestly, in that last 10 minutes, I thought, we’re out of it, we’re going home. But they always pull it out of the bag,” one delighted fan, Melissa, told me when she emerged from the stadium.
“I’m absolutely over the moon.”
Also among the elated tide of England fans were 12-year-old Jessica and her Mum, Serena. I could barely hear them over the din of excited screaming, honking of horns, and rousing renditions of Three Lions.
This was the first Euros semi-final Jessica has ever attended. Her assessment of the game? “England played well and Italy played okay too.”
I asked her if she plays football? “No,” she answered.
“Not yet, anyway,” her Mum said, laughing.
Excitement had been building from much earlier that day. In the afternoon, I stood outside a pub in central Geneva with large crowds of England fans.
I arrived to chants of “come on England”, accompanied by a drum, and shouts of “Sarina” in homage to England manager Sarina Wiegman.
There I met Lisa and Jen, who had been in the city since Thursday after four days hiking in the Alps.
“Down here it’s a bit busier, as you can imagine, but we’re really enjoying it,” said Lisa, who turns 50 next week and will be celebrating the milestone on the same day that England play in the final.
Also enjoying the festivities were Kerry, Chrissy and Charlotte, who had all met as a result of the tournament.
“Everyone’s really friendly, so you can sort of just talk to anyone,” said Chrissy.
“It’s been more emotional than I was expecting,” she added.
Charlotte said she developed a real love of the sport when she attended the Euro 2022 final, when England beat Germany.
“I’m just really excited to kind of go through those emotions again and this time be really passionate about it,” she said.
Also meeting for the first time at the Euros were Manish, who lives in the Swiss city of Bern but supports England, and Stephen, who is British and said he thought Switzerland was a great location for the tournament.
“It’s an amazing place. Great country, great people, great hospitality, it’s been wonderful.”
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