'England must win or I've wasted my time,' says artist

A football fan says England must win the World Cup or he would have wasted his time creating the team's Three Lions crest on a beach using stones.

Toby Clark, from Lowestoft, Suffolk completed the badge, after weeks of planning and eight and a half hours of work, in time for the opening day of the tournament on Thursday.

He then had to spend a further two hours restoring the crest, which measures 6m by 8m, after a "vehicle of some kind" drove over it.

England kick-off their tournament at 21:00 against Croatia in Dallas, and the artist joked that his efforts would have been for nothing if the team's soccer stars fail to return home with the 18-carat gold trophy.

"Whenever I get the opportunity at World Cups or Euros, I always do an England crest," he said.

"They are going to win, obviously there's no other option – I want us to bring it home, otherwise I've wasted my time.

"Let's say they do win it, I'll do a portrait of them all down [on the beach]."

Clark previously produced a chalk version of the crest for England's semi-final defeat against Croatia at the 2018 World Cup.

For his most recent creation, he used a template, a grid and some string and "stamped out the sand by foot".

"Everyone seems to love it, even people who are not big football fans can still appreciate the time it took and the effort and the passion," he added.

"But I'm not going to be doing any more restoration work on it. I've seen the tide come up this high before, so it'll fade and die."

Clark is not the only football fan celebrating the country's soccer stars ahead of their opening game.

John Goode, 64, and his daughter Rachel, 28, have decorated their home on Norwich Road, in Ipswich, with 60 metres of bunting and eight large England flags.

"[The reaction] has been really positive, there's been lots of smiles and we've had people stop and have photographs," said John.

"I think it is nice to support the team and show your patriotism, and I'd like to see more flags even from other countries — Portugal, Scotland, teams like that."

John is not convinced the Three Lions will win the World Cup this time round, but Rachel says following England is about more than them being successful.

"It's just the fact that it brings the country together for a little while and people put everything aside and think 'Come on England'," she said.

"We will see how far we can get, but if we get a nice, easy goal early on, I think we'll be OK and we'll dominate [tonight's] game."

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