Even now, some want to downplay last night’s historic win, but the facts are plain. We yearn to be the best: palpably, our women are doing that
It felt like deja vu when Chloe Kelly smashed the ball into the back of the net, winning the game for the Lionesses and signalling the end of the Women’s Euro 2025 final. England beat Spain after a tense penalty shootout. The word of the tournament was “resilience”, declared presenter Gabby Logan after the game. It is hard to argue with that.
It was as though the team had written a list of milestones they were ticking off as the tournament progressed. They are the first English senior team to defend their title, and the first to win a major tournament on foreign soil. Their coach, Sarina Wiegman, simply said: “A team is what we really are. We can win by any means.”
And that positivity was infectious. They genuinely believed in themselves, and in turn we believed in them. When Lucy Bronze casually revealed she’d played the entire tournament with a fractured tibia – “If that’s what it takes to play for England, that’s what I’ll do” – it encapsulated the attitude that surrounds the whole team. Unlike with the men, we never questioned if any of the players even wanted to be there due to a lack of financial incentive given that international matches pay so much less than club games do. I tried to work out what felt so different for me watching them rather than the men’s team. Not once did I give up hope. I never once had to “self-soothe” by cramming sugary snacks down my throat. There was no mental preparation for the inevitable disappointment of yet another loss.
