England 2-1 (aet) Germany (Toone 62′, Kelly 111′ | Magull 79′)
WEMBLEY — Championed by a nation, champions of Europe. A feeling as glorious as the swirl of Chloe Kelly’s shirt around her head as she raced to Sarina Wiegman. As sweet as Ella Toone’s chip.
Wiegman likes to talk about “courage”. Imagine the steel inside Kelly, when England feel broken down, slogging through the pains of exhaustion. The ball falls to her for her first ever international goal.
Think of the ice in Toone’s veins. The 22-year-old Manchester United midfielder, barely a year into her Lionesses career and just minutes into her introduction from the bench, watches Keira Walsh’s sprayed pass up the pitch. Let it run, let it run. One touch, then the pause. The final execution, off the toes, just where you can feel the power of the shot inside the boot, past Merle Frohms.
Every one of these Lionesses will have been told countless times throughout their lives that nobody cares about their sport, they have played in near-empty grounds, travelled around on minibuses at great expense and time. This was why. Say it again: England are champions of Europe. And Wiegman is a double champion. Find a coach who thinks they can beat her at a Women’s Euros and you will have found a liar.
Wembley had still been rocking from Toone’s strike when Lina Magull, like a pin hovering perilously close to the balloon, rattled the post. Germany’s goal was coming – step forward Magull, England exposed by a familiar flimsiness down the left to give Tabea Wassmuth space to create the equaliser. It was some finish from Magull, too.
But this was England’s day. Here were 87,192 – the biggest crowd in the history of the Women’s European Championship – roaring them on to victory, backed by millions at home. What has Wiegman done to this country of cynics?
For some, this will have been the first step of that journey they have taken in; they will not have been disappointed. It was gritty, Lena Oberdorf more guilty in hauling down Fran Kirby than Georgia Stanway was for the nudge on Sara Dabritz that prompted both a yellow card and a furious response from the slighted Bayern Munich midfielder.
They said every woman on the Wembley pitch would be a hero regardless of the result, but referee Kateryna Monzul did not feel like one.
England did not want to entertain talk of what it meant to face an old rival. Still, they offered the needle the showpiece deserved. At least we were spared another 56 years of debating whether the ball was over the line in a Wembley final between these nations when Ellen White unsuccessfully tried to nudge Frohms into her goal after Lucy Bronze’s lob.
So too were most of Germany’s chances a little scrappy. Leah Williamson somehow got to a goalmouth scramble from a corner so chaotic that Mary Earps could not help but laugh when the ball eventually ended up in her arms. Dabritz had already tried the more glamorous route, Bronze mustering all her courage to produce a block so instinctive it almost grazed the top of her head.
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If you are an England fan, it is understandable to feel the stars never align. Germany will have felt it too, though, in the moments shortly before kick-off when Alexandra Popp emerged with a gold bib draped over the green of their change strip, ruled out with a muscular injury. It was in those stretching chances, the fleeting glimpses carved out so effectively by Germany’s wide players that she was missed.
Her nemesis for the Golden Boot, Beth Mead, had an afternoon that likewise ended in an early exit. With the temperature rising, just moments after Lea Schuller had left a foot in one-on-one on Earps, Mead plunged to the ground but came out of the challenge worse off.
From the introduction of Alessia Russo – met with a deafening cheer – to the swap between Mead and Kelly, England will always instil fear into their opponents, even a seemingly unflappable Germany side. Even one which has won this tournament eight times. They have been here before and they will no doubt be here again.
But never has a final commanded the prestige of this one, the most spectacular day in the history of women’s football in this country. There are too many names to recount, but as the architects who made England’s run to the final possible have always said, “build it, and they will come”. A fitting occasion to cap a summer that changed the game forever.
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