KINGSTON, Jamaica – It was despair in Maverley on Sunday as hundreds of residents left a viewing of the Euro 2020 finals dejected after England lost to Italy on penalties.

The all-day activities were expected to crescendo into a massive celebration with an England win, as they watched the match on a huge television screen, to celebrate Maverley native Raheem Sterling, who dons the red, white and blue colours of England.

The event, however, ended in disappointment with most of the residents walking away immediately after the final penalty kick by England’s Bukayo Saka was saved by Italy’s goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, for the Azurri to win the penalty shootout 3-2 after both teams had battled to a 1-1 scoreline at the end of regulation and extra-time.

The ebb-and-flow of the penalties had a variety of emotions with shouts and screams of joy when England’s goalkeeper Jordan Pickford blocked a shot or when England scored their first two kicks. There were moans and groans for the last three penalties for England, which were not converted.

For many in attendance, the fault lies directly with England’s manager Gareth Southgate, as they blamed him for inserting three players late in the match targeting the penalty shootout and all failed to score the spot kicks. The players were Saka, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford.

They all wanted Sterling to take a penalty, but that was not to be.

“Mi have a headache. How the coach fi just put on the man dem and them miss the penalties. Him don’t even give Sterling a penalty,” Natasha DaCosta said.

“I blame the changes that the coach made. He made changes for penalties and they missed,” argued Winston Delgado.

A man who only identified himself as Big Kirk added: “I believe Raheem should have gotten a penalty as the three men who they bring on gave it away.”

The residents agreed that Sterling failed to match the lofty expectation that they had for him going into the match, but they believe that he still made a meaningful contributed to England during his 120 minutes of action.

“Sterling performance was average, but he didn’t get much of the ball,” Delgado said.

“Sterling got shadowed,” Big Kirk added. “They denied him a lot of times, so he didn’t get the chance to do what we know he can do.”

Meanwhile, organiser Gregory McCarthy said the event was a way of celebrating one of Maverley’s own, who came through the inner-city but succeeded on the football pitch at the highest level. He said Sterling played a part in putting the event together as he has always helped the community.

“It means a lot to us and is a sense of joy and pride that one of us can come from in the inner-city and go on the international stage and make a mark,” Mccarthy said.