There is an area of the Amex Stadium that is allocated for the families and friends of the players, a great army of nervousness and angst as they watch the biggest moments of their loved ones’ lives without any semblance of control over it. Those within that section welcome familiar faces, but when the game begins they typically concentrate on their own favourite, like a multi-person player cam.
After 35 minutes of England’s group game against Norway, all the normal rules of engagement were off. In the family section, they turned to each other and formed one mass of astonished, joyous faces. Each had the same look: wide eyes, disbelieving smiles that broke into a giggle whenever they made eye contact. We all dream of nights like these for England teams. They enjoy them more than anyone.
It was a balmy, barmy evening. So much of major international tournaments become A Serious Business, the hopes for glory suffocated by the desperate desire not to let anyone down, least of all an expectant public. In that climate, you can easily lose sight of the fun. That ability to enjoy their football was what Wiegman identified as the deciding factor in their progress through this tournament. You suspect they had fun on Monday.
It seems faintly ridiculous now, but pre-match brought with it premonitions of gloom. England had watched on as first Norway and then Germany, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden and France had demonstrated their credentials. Norway’s two strikers would cause us problems. Sarina Wiegman chose not to change her starting XI; cue social media anger. A sure sign of progress: England’s manager being lambasted for being boring.
But even the optimists were astounded. England started slowly but then scored six goals in exactly 30 second-half minutes. It surely ranks amongst the best periods of tournament football produced by any England team. Wiegman had asked for more after the mere adequacy of the 1-0 opening night win over Austria. She stood almost motionless on the touchline, as if moving might involuntarily shake her out of such a glorious fever dream.
Must we pick out stars? Only if we first reflect Wiegman’s repeated insistence that this team surges and suffers as one. Look at the way the substitutes greeted the starters when they exited the field at half-time. Listen to the urges of encouragement between players when changes were made with the game won. They understood the pressure together and so they deserve to share the spoils together too.
England’s two wide forwards have been electric, taking it in turns to either cross the ball tantalisingly into the box for one another or cut inside and make defenders look foolish. Lauren Hemp is the young superstar of this team while Beth Mead has been doing this for years. She has still stepped up a level in this tournament – a hattrick to follow the opener against Austria make her the tournament’s top scorer.
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Think on. White is England’s warrior forward and their big-game player. After her first goal of two, out came the trademark goggles celebration but it was followed by an almighty roar that seemed to come from somewhere deep down in her stomach. White’s business is goalscoring and business is good again.
Norway were guilty of a total collapse; no result this extraordinarily one-sided can be driven solely by one of the teams. Their defence was slightly patched up with midfielders at centre-back and Julie Blakstad at left-back. Their two full-backs were humiliated by Hemp and Mead, a problem intensified by the sluggishness of the central defenders. Make no mistake: England could have scored 15 on Monday evening.
Even typing those words makes the fingers tingle and brings a smile to the face. The England roadshow arrived on the south coast facing a series of slightly awkward questions and their manager insisting we would get emphatic answers; we got eight of them. England did not win the European Championship on Monday evening; that must all wait. But they proved, to themselves, to their rivals and to their public, that they most certainly can.
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