This win was for soccer mums, dads of daughters – and everyone with three lions on their shirt

Telegraph

27-07-2025

It started with an equaliser and ended with the roar of not just the 11 Lionesses on the pitch but women everywhere.
To win the Euros once is ground-breaking – but twice in three years? That's the sort of stuff that ends decades of hurt; it's history making.
Football came home for the so-called fairer sex in Switzerland, their second major international title since beating Germany 2-1 at Wembley in 2022.
This time, their opponents were no less intimidating: world champions Spain who, along with Germany, are one of only two nations to have won both the women's and men's tournaments.
Now England is yet another step closer to adding her name to that illustrious list with a truly stellar display in Basel, beating the tournament favourites against all the odds.
While not on the same scale as England's men winning the 1966 World Cup, Leah Williamson and her teammates deserve no less credit for throwing the kitchen sink at it – and then some. Think Escape to Victory meets Bend It Like Beckham.
And unlike Geoff Hurst, Bobby Moore et al, the Lionesses were the underdogs, yet once again proved themselves to be the pride of the nation and the queens of the jungle.
Watched by the Prince of Wales, accompanied by his own little lioness, Princess Charlotte, 10, (hair straightened, Williamson-style) this was not just a win for soccer mums but dads of daughters too. Frankly it was a victory for anyone with three lions on their shirt, be it XL or slim fit.
It was a win for anyone who has been told they cannot do something, only proving Annie Get Your Gun's Anything You Can Do theory. Every Doris has her day.
As someone remarked as the first agonising 90 minutes kicked off: 'With this England team, anything is possible.'
And so it proved over one of the most excruciating yet thrilling two hours of sport the country has ever witnessed. The only people who were outplayed were those who naively suggested it would be a Castilian cake walk.
At 55 minutes we feared it might all be over, until Alessia Russo equalised with a magnificent header.
For the next half an hour we were willing on the ladies to score again, anxious not just about the prospect of extra time but the penalty shoot-out every England fan dreads.
Not even the arrival of ball girl turned star striker Michelle Agyemang, the 19-year-old wonderkid who scored just 41 seconds into her England senior debut against Belgium earlier in 2025, could get them over the line.
And when 120 torturous minutes was up, a cry of despair rang out across the UK. Penalties? Not bloody penalties.
We'd already had a taste of how nerve-racking it could be with England's quarter-final shoot-out against Sweden, described by the landlord of my local The Boot, as having 'more missus (sic) than Henry VIII'. Of 14 kicks taken, 9 missed the spot.
Little did we know it could get even more nail-biting.
We've heard of irregular periods – but irregular penalties? Beth Mead missing her retake would have been enough to send us over the edge but thankfully we had a green goddess in goal in the shape of Hannah Hampton, replacing Mary Earps after she retired unexpectedly early from international play.
Having kept two Spanish penalties out of the goal, and a third missed, it was down to Chloe Kelly of football and crop top fame to finish the job. We'd been here before. Time and again, we'd gone home empty handed. But this time it was different.
As the ball confidently hit the back of the net we were all roaring.
England winning a final on a penalty shoot-out? It seems the women can teach the men a thing or two about this beautiful game after all.