Monday, September 11, 2023
England Team Hotel, Glasgow
Night
The Scotland supporters were still outside when Demien stood at the hotel window after dinner, fewer than at the arrival but no quieter, their song carrying up past the crowd barriers and the slow blue wash of police lights along the street.
His phone kept buzzing on the sill with nomination posts and match previews stacked one on top of the other, but he didn't open them this time, because the list that had felt unreal two nights ago now felt like a target stitched across his back. Hampden Park wouldn't care about France Football. It would be loud, physical, and personal, and the only answer to it lived in how he played rather than anything he could read on a screen.
He left the phone face-down and turned the curtain across the glass.
Tuesday, September 12, 2023
England Team Hotel
Matchday Morning
