Something strange happened as England’s players trudged off the Wembley pitch after their worrying Women’s World Cup hangover continued with a late kick in the teeth. The crowd rose up to cheer. Pretty much all 77,768 of them – the biggest home attendance for the national team.
A 2-1 defeat to Germany was not what the supporters – or England’s manager, Phil Neville – had come for. But this match, the Lionesses first at Wembley since 2014, was as much about winning hearts and minds. And even on an icebox of a day, in which the damp seeped into every bone and sinew, it was clear that the dizzying momentum of women’s football is showing no sign of abating.
Related: Germany’s Klara Bühl piles pressure on Phil Neville and England with late strike
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