SAINT-ETIENNE – The last time the Lionesses had won in France before Tuesday night, international women’s matches still had 35-minute halves and Edward Heath was the British Prime Minister. With England looking much closer to the side that became European champions, it is feeling a little more like 2022 than 1973.
Sarina Wiegman’s side secured a piece of history thanks to a stunning result that turns the tide of Euro 2025 qualifying back in their favour and means automatic qualification is still in their hands ahead of crunch ties against the Republic of Ireland and Sweden.
The head of Alessia Russo, the hand of Hannah Hampton and the boot of Georgia Stanway all played their part. Just as instrumental, however, were the words of Leah Williamson following the 2-1 reverse in Newcastle last Friday that left England dangling perilously close to the play-offs.
“Leah just rounded us all up then, and we said this week we weren’t satisfied with the way it’s been,” Stanway said afterwards.
“We need to up our level. We know it will take an even better, faster, physically stronger team and more technical team to win the Euros next year. Today is a massive step in the right direction because we’ve beaten a team that beat us a few days ago with the possession that we want.”
Williamson only made her return to England duty on 9 April after a year out following surgery on her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). While it was a mixed night for the captain, who was guilty of the trip on Grace Geyoro that led to France’s penalty, her return has been crucial off the pitch, along with that of Millie Bright, who also faced a spell out with a knee injury.
Reflecting on Stanway’s electric goal that set the tone for England’s aggression in Saint-Etienne, Wiegman revealed the Bayern Munich midfielder had also conducted her own appraisal following the loss at St James’ Park.
“We know she has a good shot!” Wiegman said. “And today she almost scored two. After Friday’s game, she really reviewed her own game and like everyone else, was trying to do better this game. It’s one of her qualities and it was really nice as it was a very important goal.”
England had previously slumped to a lethargic draw with Sweden at Wembley, overcome a spirited Republic of Ireland in Dublin and were beaten in their first encounter with France despite taking a first- half lead.
Jess Carter hailed the “extra fight” her teammates showed when it mattered most, admitting: “We just said in a huddle a minute ago how the standards haven’t been good enough for a while. It’s not out of a lack of trying but we just haven’t found something else to lift us.
“When things aren’t necessarily going our way, we’ve got to keep fighting and grind our way through it, which is what this team has shown we can do. That was maybe the difference today, the fight we had to keep going to the end.
“It’s something we constantly speak about, about being better we always want to do better and achieve more and whether it’s in training or in games, and everyone in the squad’s got to step up together and do better.”
Stanway added: “We had some good talks after the last game, and we knew that – it wasn’t terrible – but there were things we needed to tweak and we needed to exploit the spaces.
“I think we did that unbelievably well. Every single player was on it tonight both in and out of possession. We battled like hell. We made life hard for them and took the chances when we got them.”
Wiegman’s mentality monsters have been here plenty of times before. The Lionesses boss likened it to the hostility of the World Cup semi-final, when England held on for a 3-1 victory after Sam Kerr’s goal for the Matildas had briefly turned Stadium Australia into a cauldron.
“Sometimes that experience is necessary to know what to do,” Wiegman said, “to stay calm and try to prevent another goal, while trying to score a third one yourselves.”
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