A devoted England fan has revealed how he managed to celebrate the Three Lions’ win in silence at 4am – before starting work at 6am.
Harry Miller sacrificed his sleep to cheer on Thomas Tuchel’s side 5,000 miles away from home in an epic World Cup match.
Despite the game kicking off at 2am and being jam packed with drama from red cards to goals galore, the 45-year-old had to celebrate in silence.
READ MORE: England fans launch pints in packed pub at 3am to celebrate World Cup win
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The production editor for Jam Press had to keep quiet for the full 90 minutes – plus stoppage time – to avoid waking his sleeping sons and wife, Emma.
Teddy, nine, and his younger brother Archie, seven, had to wait until this morning to catch the game at school.
“I had to celebrate quietly, which was pretty difficult,” Harry, from Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, told Whats The Jam.
“My sons and Emma were asleep upstairs from me.
“The kids wanted to stay up but instead they are watching at school in assembly this morning.”
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The pre-work watch party for Harry got off to a rocky start after his plan to wake up at 12:40am was scuppered by the delay.
England were set to kick off at 1am UK time today (6 Jul) but that was pushed back by an hour due to severe weather in Mexico.
After waking up to the disappointing news, he managed to sneak another hour of kip in before the big match.
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Harry said: “I went to bed at 9pm, got up at 12:40am as planned and saw it had annoyingly been delayed.
“Fortunately, I went back to bed to get back up again at 1:40am.”
Despite the outlandish kick off time and work on the horizon, Harry treated himself to a few beers during the game.
This was before he realised what the actual time was.
He said: “I had a couple of beers, like I always do with football, until I realised what the actual time was, so I made the sensible switch to water.”
The devoted supporter even believes he played a part in England’s momentous victory.
Harry claims his rather unsanitary superstition helped guide the Three Lions to the win by sporting his ‘unwashed’ England shirt for the match.
The die hard Crystal Palace fan has worn the same top for each match at the World Cup, apart from the Ghana game – the only match England failed to win.
Harry said: “Had to have my England shirt on.
“I’ve worn it for each game and haven’t washed it.
“Except for the Ghana one we drew, so I knew it had to be on.”
The final whistle blew just after 4am, as 10-men England managed to beat Mexico 3-2 in the Azteca Stadium.
Pubs across the nation which were open until 5am exploded into wild celebrations with some fans spilling into the street in London.
However, this was not the case for Harry, who had to cut his party short with his 5:30am wake-up work call rapidly approaching.
He said: “I managed to get another hour before work.
“Slept from 4:15am to 5:30am.
“It was definitely worth it.
“I ummed and aah’d about it but decided to go for it and am so glad I did.
“One of the best games I’ve seen in a long time and easily the best from this England team given the environment and obstacles in our way.
“Going to be tough to win it but with the belief they will have after that result, it’s definitely coming home!”
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