One year on from the Euros win, England are trying their best to forget it

ADELAIDE — As Asisat Oshoala whirled her Nigeria jersey around her head after clinching one of the great upsets in Women’s World Cup history against co-hosts Australia, it was immediately remarked that she had “done a Chloe Kelly”.

The England forward was not the innovator of the shirtless celebration in women’s football – Brandi Chastain has been credited with that since the 1999 World Cup final – but in the current era, the iconic image of Kelly’s match-winner in the European Championship final at Wembley is unmatched.

A year on from that day, its impact is still immeasurable. In the season that followed, Women’s Super League attendances rocketed by more than 200 per cent. We are in the midst of the most popular Women’s World Cup of all time.

Anecdotally, travelling around Australia and being greeted by people of all demographics who want to talk about Sam Kerr’s injury, Oshoala’s goal, and Lauren James’s breakthrough, would once have been unheard of.

For the Lionesses, the 12-month anniversary of their becoming European champions is a moment not only to bask in the seismic effect their triumph had on women and girls’ football at every level, but also to reflect on where they stand as a squad a year on.

“I think we’re in a good place,” says Kelly.

“We’re at another tournament now and it’s so exciting but we want to keep building momentum as we go through this tournament and that’s really important.

“Last year we won but this year we obviously have our eyes on that too.”

The extraordinary fact the Manchester City winger was at the Euros at all bears repeating. In May 2021, after damaging her ACL she might never have been the same player again. She cried so much that she made herself get her eyelashes done the next day so she would stop.

“The fact she got picked for the tournament, I was so happy for her because I know she worked so hard,” recalled Lucy Bronze, who was her City teammate at the time of the injury.

“She changed her complete mentality of how she looked at training, how she wanted to perform and how she wanted to be a high-level performing athlete. I think that’s why she was able to play in the tournament.

“There’s not many people who can come in three games after an ACL and be able to compete with the level that we were playing at to win a Euros. Even now, girls who are coming back from ACLs, world class players, it’s taken time. The way Chloe did it is kind of unheard of.”

That was then and this is now, is the message from England. It does not do to dwell on past successes when they are trying to win a fourth trophy in (after the Euros, Arnold Clark Cup and Finalissima) just over a year.

Nor is it possible to compare the current squad to the Euros winners, when it is considered England are without captain Leah Williamson, Euros top scorer Beth Mead and Fran Kirby – with Keira Walsh also in recovery after suffering a knee injury in the win over Denmark.

Jill Scott and Ellen White, two of the most senior players in that group, have retired and Lauren James, on whom there now rests an enormous weight of expectation, was not deemed ready to play a part last July.

Rachel Daly has gone from left-back to striker, via a WSL Golden Boot, to left-back again and still there are unanswered questions about what England’s XI could look like by the later stages of this tournament.

Sarina Wiegman has made the same point, responding to a question about England having “no Plan B” without Walsh last summer: “You’re talking about the Euros. We’re now in a World Cup.”

The threats are greater – namely the three-time world champions USA – but it is England’s own problems – the injuries, the long-standing issue with lack of goals – that have dimmed the optimism surrounding their World Cup chances.

They remain one of the favourites, under Wiegman a two-time European champion and 2019 World Cup finalist, but the expectation has been tempered by a dash of realism given the injury list they have had to contend with.

And still, England keep winning. Neither of their 1-0 victories have been totally convincing; Haiti shocked the world with the way they stifled England’s midfield and countered through Melchie Dumornay and Denmark wrested back control with two up top following Walsh’s injury.

These are finer details, though, that will be remembered with the same irrelevance as the Euro 2022 opener against Austria if England can pull off the unimaginable in Australia and New Zealand.