FINALLY, A BIG ONE
Women win Euro, England’s first major title in 56 years
London, Aug. 1: England won a major women’s tournament for the first time as Chloe Kelly’s extra-time goal secured a 2-1 victory over Germany at a sold-out Wembley on Sunday.
In front of a record crowd of 87,192 for any match in the history of the European Championships, Kelly prodded home a loose ball from close range to end English football’s long wait for a World Cup or Euro victory.
Victory gave the England women a first major trophy and came just over 56 years to the day since the England men defeated West Germany to win the 1966 World Cup final at Wembley — the only other occasion England have won one of football’s leading international tournaments.
Kelly made herself a national hero by being in the right place to pounce when Germany failed to clear a corner in the 110th minute. The Manchester City winger tore off her shirt in celebration in scenes reminiscent of Brandi Chastain’s famous reaction to scoring the winning penalty at the 1999 World Cup for the USA.
England looked set for victory in the 90 minutes when substitute Ella Toone’s sublime chip over Merle Frohms put the hosts in front.
Germany showed remarkable resilience to bounce back as Lina Magull levelled 11 minutes from time.
But for once, England were not to be denied a major tournament success.
Fortune did not favour Germany, who lost captain and top goalscorer Alexandra Popp to a muscle injury in the warm-up.
But England will feel their time for some luck was due as 12 months on from the Three Lions’ defeat on penalties to Italy in the Euro 2020 men’s final, the nation’s women went one better.
England manager Sarina Wiegman has now led the home nation to the title in back-to-back women’s Euros after leading the Netherlands to victory in
2017. Under Wiegman, England are unbeaten in 20 games but were pushed to the limit by the eight-time winners despite missing the massive presence of Popp.
The Wolfsburg striker, who missed the entirety of Euro 2013 and 2017 through injury, had scored six goals in five games en route to the final. Despite losing their major goal threat and facing the intimidating atmosphere of a full Wembley waiting to party, Germany still posed a threat and came close to opening the scoring early in the second half when Magull prodded just wide.
KELLY STRIKES
Strength in depth has been one of the key features of England’s success under
Wiegman and the Dutch coach turned to Alessia Russo and Toone to turn the tide as they did in the quarterfinal win over Spain.
The changes worked to perfection once more as Toone timed her run through the heart of the German defence to latch onto Keira Walsh’s through ball, showing great composure to coolly lift the ball over Frohms.
Lesser sides than the eight-time champions would have been broken, but Germany immediately pushed forward in search of an equaliser.
The excellent Magull smashed a shot off the post and Popp’s replacement Lea Schueller should have converted the rebound rather than rolling the ball
into the arms of the grateful Mary Earps.
Martina Vosstecklenburg’s side were not to be denied, though, and fittingly it was Magull who sent the game to extratime as the Bayern Munich midfielder slotted Tabea Wassmuth’s cross into the roof of the net.
The German attack was further blunted by Magull’s withdrawal at the end of 90 minutes due to a knock, and both sides felt the pace of a physical encounter in the extra 30 minutes.
England just had enough left in the tank to finally get the job done as Germany failed to deal with the second ball from a corner and Kelly’s telescopic right leg flicked the ball home. —
WIEGMAN DOUBLE
“We won the cup. It is unbelievable, incredible,” said England manager Sarina Wiegman, adding, “If you really want to win and become better every single day, that is what I have noticed and it is incredible, they (the England squad) want to do it together.”
“We agreed on a couple of things about behaviour and they weren’t just words, we lived it. The game was so tight, there was a little bit of fight in there, but who cares, we won 2-1. We are European champions,” Wiegman said.
England captain Leah Williamson said victory was “the proudest moment of my life”.
“I just can’t stop crying. Something like this, we talk and we talk and we talk and we finally did it. It’s about doing it on the pitch and I’ll tell you what, the kids are alright. It is the proudest moment of my life,” she added.—