Having spent 90 minutes and more hurling herself towards the ball in a marvel of kamikaze defending, Millie Bright was perfectly placed to call the Lionesses’ 1-0 victory over Spain “proper English”.
Four interceptions, two blocked shots, 11 clearances and 10 long balls earned that right. In as much as stereotypes about English football’s soul hiding in unyielding defence and artillery-esque passing hold true, this was a truly English performance. They even slipped into a 4-4-2 without the ball.
But perhaps more crucially for this summer’s hopes of European Championship retention, it was also – as they say from Kingsmeadow to Stamford Bridge – “proper Chels”.
Bright was one of six Chelsea players in Sarina Wiegman’s line-up, including three of the four defenders and goalkeeper Hannah Hampton, with Aggie Beever-Jones an unused substitute. Even if she wasn’t involved in the goal, Lauren James was the most significant attacking threat.
More widely, there was an unmissable sense of unity at Wembley on Wednesday, a team that moved as one, particularly defensively. Deep into injury time, James dropped into the England penalty area to tackle Mariona Caldentey, still pressing and pushing, shouldering responsibilities she has occasionally been accused of shunning.
Of course, if you are going to lift more than half of your starting XI from any club, the unbeaten six-time Women’s Super League champions elect is probably the place to start.
This is a tried and tested method for successful international squad-building. Four Manchester City players started for England in the Euro 2022 final. Six of Barcelona Femeni’s Champions League-winning side then started for Spain in the World Cup final, with Alexia Putellas making it seven off the bench.
In the men’s game, six of Germany’s 2014 final lineup also played for Bayern Munich, as did substitute – and winning goalscorer – Mario Gotze. Seven of Spain’s 2010 final line-up had spent years together at Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona. Importing relationships and patterns of play from leading club sides works.
Chelsea players in bold
England (4-2-3-1): Hampton (Chelsea); Bronze (Chelsea), Williamson (Arsenal), Bright (Chelsea), Charles (Chelsea); Walsh (Chelsea), Clinton (Man Utd); Park (Man City), Toone (Man Utd), James (Chelsea); Russo (Arsenal)
Spain (4-3-3): Coll (Barcelona); Batlle (Barcelona), Paredes (Barcelona), Mendez (Real Madrid); Bonmati (Barcelona), Aleixandri (Man City), Caldentey (Arsenal); Pina (Barcelona), Garcia (Monterrey), Paralluelo (Barcelona)
You always get the sense Wiegman is searching for a formula she can trust ahead of major tournaments, largely deciding on a favoured group before the first game and attempting to stick with it. Well, here’s one Sonia Bompastor prepared earlier.
“I’m not building that [Chelsea connection], I just hope they perform really well at their clubs,” Wiegman said. “When players are at a club of course they build connections and what I’m trying to do with my staff is select the best players of the country and bring them together, trying to connect them as soon as possible.”
Club allegiances could solve some of the biggest line-up debates Wiegman has ahead of the summer. At Wembley, Hampton started in goal over Mary Earps, an audition for the starting spot as convincing as it was emphatic.
Three crucial saves, particularly two either side of half-time from Aitana Bonmati and Lucia Garcia, demonstrated shot-stopping to match Earps’s best, while her distribution and comfort with the ball is a valuable improvement. Her and Bright have both played every WSL minute this season, another key relationship.
Ahead of Hampton, questions linger over what happens with Alex Greenwood if she recovers in time for Switzerland after knee surgery in December. With Wiegman’s immovable captain Leah Williamson almost certainly taking one of the centre-back slots, Bright’s physicality and grit is a strong balancing force, as this victory proved.
While Greenwood typically plays at left-back, Niamh Charles’ existing relationship with her Chelsea teammates and attacking prowess might well guarantee her that spot.
But perhaps the most crucial relationship of those is with James down the left. The 23-year-old glided around Wembley in lighter air and lower gravity, taming the ball with a deft love her teammates simply couldn’t match.
Within 90 first-half seconds she forced two sharp saves from Cata Coll, first from a free-kick, then corralling a perfect long pass from Bright down the right. Her crossfield ball for Lucy Bronze against Portugal had set up England’s opener in Portimao too. James and Bronze are particularly close friends, certainly no bad thing for two players of such extraordinary talent.
Holding this together, as always, was Keira Walsh. She’s only a month into her Chelsea career, but by the summer she will have had half a season to build deeper understandings with her teammates.
And so through a heady cocktail of luck, experimentation and Chelsea’s realisation that building a squad around the best English players is great for marketing, Wiegman has a ready-made base to build her Euro 2025 campaign around.
England still have four games to go before heading to Switzerland – including a reverse fixture against Spain in June – but this was a vital vanquishing of demons and a renewed birth of belief. If Williamson lifts the Euro 2025 trophy on 27 July, it looks set to be a victory pre-prepared in Chelsea.
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