Fagerlund: Could be a long nightmare for England
ZURICH. Once upon a time, and it wasn’t that long ago, the stars always seemed to align for England.
Today?
Four terrifying minutes can be the start of one long nightmare.
Seconds left on the clock, 2–1 to France on the scoreboard.
National captain Laurent Bonadei couldn’t stand still when Selma Bacha came running with the ball next to the technical area, the French mood suddenly shone through.
Instinctively – probably filled with nerves and adrenaline – he started running alongside Bacha and pointed intensely towards the corner flag.
Down with the ball. Kill time. Win.
Exactly three years ago, on home soil, everything went England’s way. The starting eleven was kept intact throughout the championship, the substitutes delivered (Russo’s heel strike against Sweden is still frequently recalled) and interest in women’s football grew at a furious pace around the country.
Now? Four minutes of hair-raising breakdown right in the premiere.
In the course of a single half in Zurich, England had conceded as many goals as they had during the entire Euro 2022. If things get really bad, even the dream of a new triumph may already be shattered.
The uphill climb can at least be compared to a Swiss alpine peak: steep.
Magnifying glass required now
That said, the first half felt like two very different halves, including a clear turning point in the middle when the roles were switched.
To the tune of a relatively subdued version of the Tequila song, England kicked off the game, threatening mainly through the quick-footed Lauren James.
Because let’s not forget that the reigning champions actually took the lead.
Sure, a true pedant could certainly argue that Beth Mead was offside just before Russo pushed the rebound behind Peyraud-Magnin.
But the longer that snapshot of the situation is studied, the more one becomes convinced that football has become one long, painful pursuit of unattainable perfection.
The magnifying glass can be packed in the bag the next time it’s time for a match – then the millimeter may possibly become visible.
Here, at the disallowed goal, England’s excuses also end.
Not finding the balance
The big fear before the European Championships was that Sarina Wiegman, with two shiny gold medals under her belt, would have a headache in the midfield.
Fran Kirby, who started every game in 2022, has hung up her boots. Georgia Stanway has struggled with injuries and Keira Walsh, the championship’s best player three years ago, is not what she once was.
From minute 15 onwards, Stanway drowned centrally, while Walsh was worryingly anonymous. Beth Mead was careless with the ball.
Add to that Delphine Cascarino turned in and out poor left back Jess Carter, left to her own devices by her teammates. On the other wing, the squad’s oldest player, 33-year-old Lucy Bronze, struggled to contain club teammate Sandy Baltimore and Marie-Antoinette Katoto.
Four minutes into the game – 2–0 to France.
A thundercloud despite being cloudless
It is rare for Wiegman to openly lose his temper, or for that matter confront the judge (who, incidentally, happened to be Swedish Tess Olofsson).
Despite a cloudless sky over the Letzigrund Stadium this Saturday evening, a thundercloud hung over the national team captain. Perhaps, with hindsight, she regrets her choice of starting eleven.
Never before had she lost a European Championship match as a coach, until today.
Never before had a reigning European women’s champion fallen in the opening match.
There’s a simple explanation for why Laurent Bonadei gesticulated frantically in the final minutes, and the French team celebrated as if they had already won the entire tournament after the final whistle.
With the Netherlands also in the group of death, who ran over Wales in Lucerne, this was a kind of mini-final in advance.
A great footballing nation will be eliminated before the quarter-finals. For England, it’s just a matter of starting to climb the steep slope.
