Georgia Stanway had just raised the roof inside The Amex, but she was probably the one person inside the ground who could not full appreciate what she had just done.
For what seemed like the first time in an excruciating 96 minutes, Spain had given her an irrational amount of space; she picked the ball up close to the centre-circle and carried it all the way to the edge of the box to send England hurtling into the semi-finals of the European Championship.
“I honestly don’t know why I shot,” she admitted, though her England team-mates had been encouraging to try her luck more going into the tournament. The only pity was she had no idea what stage of extra time it was. “I remember saying to one of the girls, ‘at what moment did we actually score?'”
Stanway’s form has been one of the unexpected triumphs of the Lionesses’ tournament, but it comes as no surprise to those who have followed her development. They include Blackburn Rovers manager Gemma Donnelly, who was the first coach to pick her for a senior team as a 16-year-old – a call which immediately paid off.
More on Women's Euro 2022
“I don’t know the numbers, but way, way past top goalscorer,” Donnelly tells i. “The decision was made because she was a prolific goalscorer and we wanted to see how she would fare against ladies.
“It didn’t faze her, she got kicked because she was so small but she rode the challenges and jumped out of them.”
Blackburn’s academy has become renowned, not least because the club’s centre of excellence produced three of the Lionesses’ current squad in Keira Walsh, Ella Toone and Stanway.
“Georgia played across the top, a 10, 9, 7 or even at a push an 8 because it allowed her to get forward,” Donnelly adds. “She was quick, confident in her ability and whether you put her as a 7 or an 11, she’d change over to the other side to get the ball. She wanted to be on the ball all the time.
“It’s petered out now when I see her play but in her early days at [next club] City, when she was a little bit petulant, kicking out, we saw that too!”
Her versatility would come into play at Manchester City, where boss Gareth Taylor used her for a spell at right-back and left-back. Crucially, he also helped hone her role in the middle of the pitch, picking her up from the low point of her 2021-22 season when she was sent off for a horror challenge in the Manchester derby.
Once Stanway had put it behind her, the second half of the campaign helped earn her a move to Bayern Munich.
“Georgia has played a great tournament so far and we are very happy to see her performances,” Bianca Rech, Bayern’s sporting director tells i.
“She is a very flexible player who is able to create and score goals. She is a player who was growing a lot in the past two years and the way she plays, her character on and off the pitch, she is the right player for Bayern Munich.”
After seven years and the same number of trophies with City, she said a move to the Frauen-Bundesliga “just felt right”. Her boyfriend, rugby league player Olly Ashall-Bott, with whom she has taken up carp fishing in her spare time, recently made his own move to the continent after signing for Toulouse.
It sees Stanway, whose first taste of football was in Furness Rovers’ boys’ team in Cumbria where she grew up, follow an emergent trend in this England camp. Of the current squad, eight have played outside England, at least at youth level.
“That helps you grow as a person and understand what you like from a lifestyle and culture perspective,” former England goalkeeper Rachel Brown-Finnis, who spent part of her career playing in the US and Iceland, explains to i.
“And from a football point of view you get the style of play, the go-to tactics of different countries compared to others. It adds insight for Sarina Wiegman and that’s invaluable. When you look at the Italian squad, for example, the majority play in Italy and won’t have that experience – so it can do nothing but benefit the whole team.”
More from Football
Named Player of the Match against Austria and scoring a penalty against Norway, Stanway’s goal against Spain was the moment she won praise from her England men’s counterpart Declan Rice, who took to Twitter to call her a “baller” – which she admitted was “pretty surreal”.
Stanway reveals that was one of a few messages the Lionesses have received from “the lads that were involved last year [when England’s men reached the final of Euro 2020]. They’re giving us tips on momentum, taking it forward and just support really”.
That is why for all Wiegman is weighing up for the semi-final – whether to keep Rachel Daly at left-back, how to accommodate Ellen White, and where to get the best out of Lauren Hemp – she has no doubts about her midfield pairing.
Next up is Sweden, who have their own crop of WSL stars already familiar to the England squad. Peter Gerhardsson’s side are the highest-ranked team in the tournament, but strangely find themselves underdogs ahead of the tie at Bramall Lane.
That speaks of the momentum behind England, which Stanway has played a huge part in creating.
from Football | News and analysis from the Premier League and beyond | iNews https://ift.tt/CFRef2z
Post a Comment