It was the interview Kelly Somers wanted three months ago – Harry Kane history maker, fresh off the field and beaming.
So it’s perhaps understandable that Channel 4′s England reporter spent much of the second half hoping Italy’s fierce fightback wouldn’t ruin Kane’s big night. “I just thought ‘Let this be Harry’s night, he deserves it’,” she says.
“I didn’t want to have to say ‘Harry, you’ve made history but how disappointed are you England didn’t win?’
“He’s just a genuine guy, you can’t not want him to do well. He’s an incredible professional and because he’s got that you never get much emotion from him but I think Thursday was different.
“After I interviewed him, I walked down the tunnel with him and he hugged his brother and his Dad and seeing that was quite special.
“You had to walk down some other metal stairs to the other interview room and he sort of let out a massive roar. It just felt like all of that emotion from the World Cup was let out.
“He would never admit it but I’m sure the last three months has been playing on his mind.”
Somers is used to being on the spot for the big moments. The World Cup was her second tournament as England’s main reporter for the BBC and she’s transferred her talents to Channel 4’s impressive coverage for these Euro qualifiers.
Being the first on the spot when England play throws you to the mercy of the millions of armchair viewers but Somers is usually coolness personified, her conversational style able to extract some great soundbites from Gareth Southgate and the players.
Does she ever worry about the trolls waiting to pounce on mistakes?
“I was excited not nervous, it was just a privilege,” she says of being the first person to speak to Kane after his milestone.
“If you start to think how many million are watching, you take your eye off what you’re meant to be doing. I knew it was a bit of history because he’s going to go clear of the record now so we might not see anything like it for a long time.”
Somers is aware that she’s standing on the shoulders of giants as a prominent women in football.
“I was working with Jill Scott this week and we were talking about the fact that if a man makes a mistake, it’s just a mistake but when a woman makes a mistake it’s a woman making a mistake,” she says.
“I’m very aware of that – if I make a mistake I’m a woman making a mistake – but you can over obsess on these things. So many women have paved the way. We can put people in positions but if they’re no good it can do more harm than good. At the moment it’s a really strong time for the industry.
“A student contacted me recently for some advice and she asked me ‘What’s it like being a female reporter?’ and a female presenter. So I just said ‘Let me stop you, just think of yourself as a reporter’. Men don’t think of themselves as a male reporter.
“The moment you differentiate yourself it’s more difficult to blend in.”
She treads diplomatically around the Gary Lineker row, admitting it was “hard and strange” for a weekend as the BBC’s sport coverage ground to a halt, but she was delighted to get back to work last weekend.
So to Wembley on Sunday and the visit of Ukraine in a game loaded with significance beyond the pitch. Somers says Channel 4 feel a “duty” to reflect the continuing issues in the country.
“We’re so aware that it will bring what is happening in that country back to the forefront of everyone’s attention and that’s really important,” she says. If previous experience is anything to go by, you can count on her to strike the right note.
Watch England vs Ukraine Euro qualifier on Channel 4 from 4.30pm on Sunday.
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