Counting the cost: England fans now gear up for Euros final

LONDON (AP) — There are no doubt a few hangovers across England on Thursday after a night of wild celebrations in the wake of the national soccer team's victory over Denmark in the European Championship semifinals.

There will likely be many, many more on Monday morning if England manages to beat Italy in the final, its first in a major tournament since winning the 1966 World Cup.

The pent-up frustration out there has been further fueled by the rigors endured during coronavirus restrictions — and a fair bit of booze. The British Beer & Pub Association predicted that fans across the country would consume 6.8 million pints during the match alone.

The scenes inside Wembley Stadium were particularly raucous — more than 60,000 fans were allowed to attend the match. The celebrations were especially boisterous among long-suffering England supporters, who outnumbered their Danish counterparts by around six to one.

Two England fan favorites — Neil Diamond's “Sweet Caroline” and the Lightning Seeds' “Three Lions,” with lyrics by comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner — were sung with delirium, even by the England team and staff who joined in the singalong after the final whistle blew.

The partying didn't end there. On leaving the stadium, fans released red-colored smoke and carried on singing as they swarmed out of the stadium and went home, no doubt to celebrate some more.

Scarlet Devereux, 18, was elated when leaving the stadium, which will also host the final.

“It was a brilliant game, the atmosphere was absolutely amazing," she said.

It wasn't all positive though. European football's governing body UEFA charged the English Football Association with three offenses at the stadium. Disciplinary cases were opened over the use of a laser pointer by fans, fireworks being...