We've nothing left to prove, says Lucy Bronze as Lionesses reach third straight final

The Guardian

5 days ago

Lucy Bronze has said England have 'nothing to prove' after reaching a third successive major tournament final with a dramatic extra-time win over Italy despite some unconvincing performances.
'Do we have something to prove? Not really,' the Chelsea right-back said. 'That's people from the outside thinking that teams have to win every single game. We've done six consecutive semi-finals, three consecutive finals, who else has done that? Nobody. [The current] Spain and Germany are fantastic teams but even they haven't managed that feat.'
Germany did win five successive Euros and World Cups between 2001 and 2009 but they have not reached six consecutive semi-finals. However, a lot has changed since then and the rest of European football, and world football, has caught up.
'It's hard to stay at the top in international football, there's so many teams, it's up and down, they develop, but this team just keeps fighting until the end,' said Bronze. 'I feel like we don't have anything to prove because we've been there, we've done it many, many times, and it's just a fact that the game's getting better and international football's not as easy as it used to be. Everybody's fighting and everybody wants to win and everybody feels like they can win.'
England left fans sweating on Tuesday night, Michelle Agyemang's stoppage time equaliser ensuring the game went to extra time at 1-1 before Chloe Kelly's penalty in the 119th minute was saved but she was alert and turned in the rebound.
England's opening group stage defeat to France had sounded alarm bells but that disjointed and sloppy performance was turned around against the Netherlands and Wales as they escaped the group of death. However, worries about England's cohesion returned in the quarter-finals, the team forced to recover from two goals down with 10 minutes remaining against Sweden before extra time and penalties saw Sarina Wiegman's side progress. Against Italy in Geneva on Tuesday night they were again unconvincing for much of the 90 minutes of normal time before the super subs delivered.
'I don't think us doing it the hard way is a concern,' said Bronze. 'We've also got to give credit to the teams that we're playing against. Sweden showed a lot of fight, Italy were a really good team. It's not just about one team just winning every single game. We saw that in this tournament, and so many teams are at such a high level, and you switch off for a moment and you're 1-0 down. We're just showing that we've got fighters in this team and that's what you need in a tournament.
'To show that we can do that in different scenarios gives you a lot of belief because we know we can play good football as well, we know we've got the performances in us. Now we know going into the final that we're capable of so many different ways of playing and winning and digging in.'
Kelly and Agyemang were once again critical to England's success in this competition. Left-back Alex Greenwood said: 'Michelle was so good when she came on. She caused them so many problems and then Chloe goes and scores the rebound from the penalty - that takes a lot of courage to step up to take that. I asked her, she had no doubt in her mind, she was confident enough to take it.'
Bronze echoed Greenwood's praise for the impact players. 'What a tournament from Michelle, especially coming in with the seniors just a couple of months ago,' she said. 'What a great player, what a bright future she's got. She's such a humble, lovely down-to-earth girl. Honestly couldn't think of a nicer person, and then Chloe's just attitude, sass, confidence.
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'I think Chloe's one of those players who, when she's on the pitch, no matter what the moment of the game is, or how she's feeling or how the crowd is, is going to push her shoulders back, big up her chest and go for it. They're both key players in this team, obviously they haven't started in this tournament but it just shows the strength of our squad, I don't know many teams that have that.'
The key for England now is recovery, said Greenwood, with the team having had to come through two 120-minute games, and penalties against Sweden to reach the final. They do have the advantage of an extra day's rest over Germany and Spain, who meet on Wednesday evening, before Sunday's final.
'I've played this game long enough to know how to recover from games but it's going to be crucial from now until Sunday,' said Greenwood. 'The biggest message is recovery. We'll do that properly. We've got a fantastic support network and the staff and they work so so hard to make sure we're ready for every game. The girls are in a Euro final on Sunday and we'll make sure we do everything we can to be ready for that.'