Bright: This is game of our lives

plan that we have to go out and execute, but I think everyone knows how big this is.

‘I think it’s been players’ dreams for years. We know how passionate our nation is back home and how much they want us to win. But for us, there is a process. We have a game plan. We need to play the game of our lives.’

England boss Sarina Wiegman appointed Bright captain after Euro 2022-winning skipper Leah Williamson was ruled out with an anterior cruciate ligament injury ahead of the tournament.

Williamson will be in the stands on Sunday when the Lionesses walk out at the 75,000-plus seat Stadium Australia, led by Chelsea’s Bright, who insisted she would be thinking more about the squad than the armband.

She said: ‘It’s massive, but it’s massive for the team. I think it’s always “we before me”.

‘I’ve always said, no matter whether I’ve got the armband or not, it’s a huge privilege and honour and I think it will be the biggest moment in our careers.’

Wiegman has already become the first manager to lead two sides to the World Cup final after accomplishing the same feat with the Netherlands four years ago.

The popular Dutchwoman also has two European championship trophies with those countries, but so far football’s most coveted title eludes her.

She said: ‘Playing in another (final) is really special, but we’re just preparing for the game. Yes, it is a final, but we don’t do anything different than what we would normally do.

‘When you go so far in the tournament people get more excited and that’s what you see.’

Wiegman faces the dilemma of whether to start forward Lauren James, who scored three times and picked up the same number of assists before she was sent off in England’s last-16 clash with Nigeria for stepping on the back of defender Michele Alozie and hit with a two-game suspension.

Replacement Ella Toone scored in England’s 3-1 semi-final victory against Australia, but serial winner Wiegman, who feels the available-again James has been sufficiently punished, could still be tempted to make a swap for the prodigious Chelsea talent.