Chloe Kelly brings magic and sheer chaos as England abandon all logic

Yahoo

3 days ago

Chloe Kelly walks up to the penalty spot as if she's in her back garden. She stops. She pauses. She picks the ball up and spins it back onto the spot, as if no one is watching or waiting for the kick to keep England's Euro defence alive, after three successive misses. So Kelly waits a little longer. She spins the ball back onto the spot three more times.
Kelly actually needs to pee. Some England players on the halfway line have lost track of the score as Kelly steps back. She locks eyes with goalkeeper Jennifer Falk and can't help herself from grinning due to the sheer enormity of the moment. But Kelly sticks with what she knows: she lifts her left leg, skips a little, and, with her right foot, effortlessly places the biggest penalty of her life into the corner. Confident? That doesn't quite cut it. 'She was getting a lot of momentum, the goalkeeper,' Kelly said afterwards.
Did Kelly know that Sweden's goalkeeper was up next, with the chance to knock England out and send Sweden through? Probably not. But given the way Kelly turned and roared at the England fans in Zurich as Falk picked herself up to walk to the spot, you wouldn't put it past her. 'It was the same as the Nigerian game,' Kelly said when asked what was going through her mind. 'I was bursting for a wee.'
Pure Kelly. Pure chaos. Even when Falk then missed, there was a lot still to unfold in a remarkable, mind-twisting shootout in Zurich. But the player who needed to take the penalty to keep England in the Euros turned out to be the right one. It could only be the right one. Up fifth, Kelly had twice won a penalty shootout for England, against Nigeria in the World Cup and Brazil in the Finalissima. This was her moment to save them, just as Kelly had already done, around 45 minutes before.
She began on the sidelines, back in a familiar place. Three years after her role as super-sub won England the Euros, Kelly had yet to escape from the bench and graduate into Sarina Wiegman's starting lineup. But if anyone knows how to make an impact off the bench, it's Kelly.
And in Zurich, the Wembley match-winner of Euro 2022 was the saviour of England's Euro 2025. Brought on in the 78th minute, Kelly's first assist came in the 79th, the second in the 81st. Two perfect crosses, played with pace and the desire to change the game, found their targets to turn a quarter-final on its head.
'I felt good, coming onto the pitch, playing to my strengths and trying to put the ball in a box,' she explained. 'We know we have such strong headers of the ball. The girls put the ball in the back of the net and it was incredible.'
There was not enough time for snapping her fingers, but England's 'positive clique' had delivered for Wiegman again. With a gameplan in tatters and the Lionesses heading home, perhaps the only souls in Zurich who still believed were those warming the bench. Kelly revealed this week that England's substitutes have their own group chat, separate from the squad, where they can motivate each other into taking their chance should it come.
Kelly led from the front, as England forced extra time and then survived it, but she was not alone. Wiegman's substitutes were eclectic, random, and at the time surprising. Protection in midfield? Depth in attack? Control in the buildup? Wiegman appeared to laugh in the face of any concept that wasn't just pure chaos and England were better off with it. 'Sarina knows what she's doing,' Beth Mead said. 'There's method in the madness and I think that showed today.'
But England had ended up with a formation that made no sense: Keira Walsh was left by herself in midfield, then it was down to Grace Clinton to cover such a wide expanse of the pitch on her own. Lauren James was allowed to float where she could, sometimes holding next to Walsh, sometimes pushing to join the Arsenal quartet of Kelly, Mead, Michelle Agyemang and the tireless Alessia Russo in attack. James was everywhere and stood up when it mattered most.
Lucy Bronze, who has seen it all with England but may not have experienced a comeback quite like this, ended up as a right-winger and plundered England's route back into the game as she arrived at the back post. Alex Greenwood was the last one standing in defence, marshalling Esme Morgan and Niamh Charles, who made a crucial block to keep it 2-2. Hannah Hampton made big saves at 2-0, then helped England survive the onslaught.
Never before had Wiegman's intended plan deviated to such a wild extent. England had named the same team that had so comfortably beaten the Netherlands and Wales, but Sweden tore right through it. For England, it came from a collective place of such naivety, bordering even on arrogance, that Sweden couldn't believe what had been handed to them as they raced into a two-goal lead while the Lionesses routinely shot themselves in the foot by playing out from the back.
Off came Jess Carter, along with Georgia Stanway and Ella Toone. There was no replacement midfielder. 'People came on the pitch, they had to do different jobs,' Mead explained. 'I was playing as a number six, number 10, as a winger... weirdly, it didn't feel chaotic. I think if Sarina asks you to do it, you do it and as a player, you back yourself.'
Instead, England went direct and Kelly produced her magic from the wings: her cross for Bronze's header came just 68 seconds after coming onto the pitch, the second delivery led to more mayhem and Agyemang's equaliser a couple of minutes later.
Then penalties arrived and Kelly again knew where she needed to be: spinning the ball on the spot, playing her own game, this time to save England and send them through.