England’s international stars are keeping an eye on the future in both a short- and longer-term sense, after claiming yet more silverware at Wembley.
The Lionesses beat Brazil on penalties to win the first women’s Finalissima, the meeting of Europe and South America’s finest international teams, but with the World Cup on the horizon there’s little doubt about what Sarina Wiegman and her players are targetting as the biggest success of 2023.
Ella Toone netted the first-half opener with a fierce finish at the end of a brilliant team move down the right flank, but Andressa struck Brazil’s equaliser two minutes into stoppage time as the match approached its conclusion, following a fumble by goalkeeper Mary Earps.
However, the stopper then saved from Tamires to give Chloe Kelly the opportunity to seal the shootout victory, which she duly took. Speaking after the game to ITV Sport, Earps revealed her emotions were pretty typical in the life of a goalkeeper and spoke about her wish to keep inspiring youngsters to take up the game, especially in her specialist position.
“I’m relieved. It sums up goalkeeping within five minutes. I’m disappointed with the goal and would have preferred the clean sheet but I really wanted to make it up to the girls,” Earps said.
“We won, that’s the most important thing. I was disappointed to not save the first one but it’s good practice for the World Cup in the summer. I was [ready], I had to be after the last few minutes of the game!
“It’s a bit mental, I pinch myself walking out – I’m so lucky to do what I do and wouldn’t change it for the world, even when you have little wobbles. I aim to inspire as many people as possible, try to make goalkeeping as attractive as possible and get more kids into the game because it is a great position. Hopefully they watch the second bit and not the last few minutes of the game!”
While there’s little doubt the Lionesses have done a huge amount to help inspire the footballers of the future after their exploits over the last couple of years, captain Leah Williamson was looking at a rather closer objective for the group.
She acknowledged that England’s second-half showing was below par against Brazil, but still took the positives out of the situation as the team will doubtless need to find ways to win while below their best at the World Cup.
“Second half we weren’t best pleased with our performance but to win a penalty shootout at Wembley, it’s not too bad is it! I think it might be time to get a trophy cabinet,” she joked, speaking to ITV.
“Everybody has got their eyes on it [the World Cup]. Today was a little stop in terms of what the focus is on but every time you win it makes you want to win more.
“We looked at the [penalty] list and thought those takers are incredible for us. Mary [Earps] we know how good she is in goal so I wasn’t worried at all, to be honest. We had a conversation around it to make sure everyone was good but nobody in this team would shy away. Everyone is ready to take responsibility.”
Manager Wiegman had praised England’s mental resilience after conceding the late equaliser and Williamson agreed that the challenge would come in useful for future.
But, she added, it’s also important to live in the moment and enjoy the successes the Lionesses are racking up along the way.
“Equalisers always leave you thinking ‘if I’d have just done this’ but we maybe got what we deserved [by conceding] and had to finish the game off a different way. But it’s probably good to expose ourselves to all these challenges to be fair,” she said.
“I was reminded by somebody close to me to enjoy the moments. We work hard, we don’t shy away and give everything we can to England in pursuit of this greater goal – but we’re going to enjoy it along the way. The more we remember and feel when we do things like this, it gives you fire in the belly for this summer.”
Wiegman meanwhile pledged to “never take this environment for granted” after another Wembley triumph, and hopes the victory on penalties will stand England in good stead in the summer.
“We conceded at the end, which can happen... the team did really well by showing resilience,” she said. “I’m happy with the penalties: we didn’t have a shootout [before] in an environment like this. You practice and try to get as close as possible to a real game but it can’t get more real than this.
“Every experience helps you to move forward.”
