Emma Hayes said she needed to ‘build her to last’ despite a record fee – now club and country are reaping the rewardsNot since Kelly Smith have I been as excited by a player as I am by Lauren James in the women’s game. The England and Chelsea striker has the potential to be one of the best in the world.James is only 21 but she has shown her raw attributes for a number of years and has constantly improved to become one of the most exciting players in the Women’s Super League. Continue reading...
Putellas may be the better player, but Mead’s individual heroics deserved recognitionThe images of Alexia Putellas clutching the Ballon d’Or trophy for the second successive year, becoming the first female player to do so since the introduction of the women’s award in 2018, were poignant.Poignant first because Putellas was standing there with the ACL injury that crushed her Euro 2022 dream and will keep her out for much of this season. And poignant also because, although injury meant she was not a signatory of the statement from 15 Spain players that said the national team environment was affecting their emotional state and health, she is the talisman of the team, has expressed support for her teammates and was clutching the...
This rip-roaring spectacle delivered a celebratory atmosphere in a vibrant reprise of England captivating an entire nationUnder an almost full moon, England poured a few more golden rays of sunshine. As homecomings go, this ticked most boxes: a celebratory atmosphere; the national stadium near enough full; the palpable sense of occasion as the tube station funnelled its public down on to Olympic Way. Then there was the rip-roaring spectacle delivered inside and the invigorating sense that, while the Lionesses’ summer heroics were its springboard, there is still no telling exactly where they will land.The answer may be known by 20 August, when the World Cup’s two best teams will square off at Stadium Australia. It is hardly outrageous to suggest...
Alessia Russo and the re-emergence of Nikita Parris are just two reasons Sarina Wiegman can be optimistic about the tournament in Australia and New Zealand next summerThe fallout of a failed crusade led to Wiener Neustadt’s creation in 1194 but England will remember it as the place where their World Cup qualifying mission was accomplished.Although the city’s 3,000-capacity stadium, an hour’s drive south of Vienna, seemed a slightly underwhelming setting for the Lionesses’ first match since winning Euro 2022 in front of nearly 90,000 fans at Wembley in July, it was perhaps a fitting venue. A settlement built with the ransom money paid by the English to secure King Richard I’s release after his capture by Duke Leopold of Austria...
Pioneering reporter was a Wembley witness to both Alf Ramsey’s World Cup winners and a stunning Euro 2022 victoryIt had to be. Surely? Fifty-six years and a day after being at Wembley to see Alf Ramsey’s England beat West Germany to win the men’s World Cup, I walked with my son towards the stadium in a state of nervous anticipation before last Sunday’s Women’s Euro final.As much as I cherish the memory of that historic day in 1966, standing behind the goal into which Geoff Hurst smashed his “they think it’s all over” victory clincher and then roaring like three lions at the final whistle, I felt even more involved and invested this time round as the Lionesses prepared to...