On July 26th, England defeated Sweden to reach the European Championship Finals. The Lionesses learned their lessons from their past semi-final defeats and secured a dominant 4-0 victory over the Swedes.
In 2015, England reached their first World Cup Semi-final against the then world number 4 Japan. In an interview with Karen Bardsley, England’s former goalkeeper, she recalled the experience, stating “Laura Bassett stuck out her foot for a cross and unfortunately it chipped me. I remember turning and sprinting to try to get to the ball. I dived and just watched it cross the line. It was the cruelest way to go out.”
However, despite the defeat in the semi-finals, the Lionesses beat Germany to take home a bronze medal. “It felt magical and hope had got us through the tournament” Bardsley said, recounting the lesson they learned on the importance of self-belief and hope.
In 2017, England again reached the semi-finals and faced the Netherlands led by Sarina Wiegman, who is now in charge of the England team. The lionesses made many individual errors and were blown away by the Netherlands in a 3-0 loss. In addition to the mistakes, Bardsley noticed the importance of squad depth and preparation. “Wiegman had back-up plans”, she told the reporter, “It was one of those moments where we realized we were perhaps not as well prepared as we thought we were.”
In 2019, England again suffered a bitter loss in the World Cup semi-finals against the World number 1 USA. Having the tournament at home, the England squad performed well in the group stage and was confident to take on the formidable USA women’s soccer team. In the 84th minute England was down 2-1, but their captain Steph Houghton had a chance to tie the game with a penalty. However, she missed. “When [Steph Houghton] didn’t score, we knew that was our chance gone”, said Karen Bardsley as she summed up the lesson they’ve learnt, “In 2015 we knew we needed to work on our belief and mentality. The 2017 defeat taught us about squad depth and after 2019 we knew it was those crucial moments and the level of preparation needed.”
This year, England finally broke the curse and reached the Euro 2022 Finals. With millions of fans watching the game at the lionesses’ home stadium, we will soon find out if they can take the top step of the podium this Sunday.
In 2015, England reached their first World Cup Semi-final against the then world number 4 Japan. In an interview with Karen Bardsley, England’s former goalkeeper, she recalled the experience, stating “Laura Bassett stuck out her foot for a cross and unfortunately it chipped me. I remember turning and sprinting to try to get to the ball. I dived and just watched it cross the line. It was the cruelest way to go out.”
However, despite the defeat in the semi-finals, the Lionesses beat Germany to take home a bronze medal. “It felt magical and hope had got us through the tournament” Bardsley said, recounting the lesson they learned on the importance of self-belief and hope.
In 2017, England again reached the semi-finals and faced the Netherlands led by Sarina Wiegman, who is now in charge of the England team. The lionesses made many individual errors and were blown away by the Netherlands in a 3-0 loss. In addition to the mistakes, Bardsley noticed the importance of squad depth and preparation. “Wiegman had back-up plans”, she told the reporter, “It was one of those moments where we realized we were perhaps not as well prepared as we thought we were.”
In 2019, England again suffered a bitter loss in the World Cup semi-finals against the World number 1 USA. Having the tournament at home, the England squad performed well in the group stage and was confident to take on the formidable USA women’s soccer team. In the 84th minute England was down 2-1, but their captain Steph Houghton had a chance to tie the game with a penalty. However, she missed. “When [Steph Houghton] didn’t score, we knew that was our chance gone”, said Karen Bardsley as she summed up the lesson they’ve learnt, “In 2015 we knew we needed to work on our belief and mentality. The 2017 defeat taught us about squad depth and after 2019 we knew it was those crucial moments and the level of preparation needed.”
This year, England finally broke the curse and reached the Euro 2022 Finals. With millions of fans watching the game at the lionesses’ home stadium, we will soon find out if they can take the top step of the podium this Sunday.
