We are where many thought we would be, awaiting a Women’s Euros final between England and Spain, the two teams who topped the market at the start of this month’s gathering in Switzerland.
In one corner, we have Spain who have taken the women’s game by the scruff of the neck over the years to the extent that they are the team to beat wherever they turn up. And then, the Lionesses, who live up to their nickname, epitomising a togetherness that means they don’t know they are beaten.
Sarina Wiegman’s team are not an outfit of superstars but they come together well and have developed into a fine tournament team, and that helped them earn the Racing Post’s outright selection at the start of the tournament.
The main problem for those who got involved at that stage is that they would have loved the route to Basel to have been a lot less stressful, and that leads to the conclusion they may have used up all of their chances.
Their form had been patchy this season – they thumped Belgium and Portugal at home in the Nations League but took just one point from the two away meetings – and a 2-1 opening loss to France was not a glowing endorsement.
Full credit should be dished out for subsequent wins over the Netherlands and Wales, but it was in the knockout stages when the concerns really came through.
They needed two goals in the last 11 minutes to get to extra-time against Sweden and must still be wondering how they got through a penalty shootout that is hard to sugarcoat when only five of 14 kicks were converted.
Then Michelle Agyemang’s goal seven minutes into injury-time got them to extra-time in the semi against Italy and they needed a rebounded penalty to get over the line.
Public euphoria would have you believe their name is on the trophy. However, it seems more likely their time is about to run out.
Spain beat them 1-0 in the World Cup final two years ago and while they too had to scrap their way through the semi-finals. They have looked the team to beat virtually since they kicked off, just as their male counterparts did in last season’s Euros in Germany.
They pour forward, create a host of chances which has led them to score 17 times in the tournament while they also missed two penalties in the 2-0 quarter-final victory over Switzerland.
No one has looked capable of giving them many problems and England won’t be able to get away with anything against the best team in the tournament.
Like the World Cup and the Nations League, the trophy look set to head to Spain.
England
Lauren James suffered a knock in the semi-final win over Italy, while goal heroes Chloe Kelly and Michelle Agyemang are pushing for starts.
Starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Hampton; Bronze, Morgan, Williamson, Greenwood; Walsh, Stanway; Mead, Toone, Hemp; Russo.
Spain
Defender Laia Aleixandri returns from suspension and should start.
Starting line-up (4-3-3): Coll; Batlle, Paredes, Aleixandri, Carmona; Bonmati, Guijarro, Putellas; Caldentey, Gonzalez, Pina.
