England fast bowler Jofra Archer had made a passionate plea to English football fans to not racially abuse three England footballers for missing penalties against Italy. This was after Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka, all black players, missed their penalties.
Archer tweeted immediately after the match, “Do not racially abuse those players tonight!”
Do not racially abuse those players tonight !
— Jofra Archer (@JofraArcher) July 11, 2021
Lending support to Archer’s call was his England teammate Ben Stokes, who urged his followers to ‘retweet’ the message.
Retweet https://t.co/X3MZBbx9Ai
— Ben Stokes (@benstokes38) July 11, 2021
The only players able to score during the penalty shootout were skipper Harry Kane and Harry Maguire. England had the advantage during the penalty shootout after Jordan Pickford had given them an early advantage by saving a penalty off Andrea Belotti.
Former England defender Rio Ferdinand told BBC, “People have put players on, maybe not as late as that, but towards the end. They come on as penalty takers because they are recognised. Rashford is a recognised penalty taker for Man Utd. The best players in the world miss penalties at times. The two boys would have said get me on there.”
Several celebrities such as Hollywood actor Tom Cruise, former England captain David Beckham, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William and Kate Middleton, were present in the Wembley stadium to watch the final. A tweet by Prince William and Kate read, “Heartbreaking. Congratulations
@Azzurri on a great victory. @England, you’ve all come so far, but sadly this time it wasn’t our day. You can all hold your heads high, and be so proud of yourselves — I know there’s more to come. W”
This was England’s first-ever final in an international tournament since the 1966 World Cup. England’s track record in penalty shootouts has been extremely poor with the Three Lions winning just two out of their last nine encounters on penalties.