ZURICH – A sizzling, critic-shushing triumph. The Lionesses did not just keep their Euros hopes alive with a 4-0 victory over the Netherlands but roared back into contention.
This is the anatomy of a perfect goal, finished by a generational baller.
In the humiliation against France, James had proven Sarina Wiegman’s misshapen puzzle piece, so obviously the answer but not quite fitting the bigger picture. So she placed her to the right, brought in Ella Toone to prevent England being bullied and swapped around Alex Greenwood and Jess Carter.
The difference between the Dutch and the English, Netherlands forward Vivianne Miedema surmised before kick-off, was the pressure on her nation to play “total football”, against a side willing to win at any costs. Instead, for the Netherlands here was nothing but total mortification.
In reality, this was no moral argument about footballing purity and heritage. England could do nothing but win, even as they pinged about possession with a sprinkling of orange inspiration from their Dutch coaches. They simply could not repeat what happened against France and risk slumping to the worst European Championship title defence in history.
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All that remained was for Georgia Stanway to pelt her effort from the edge of the box past Daphne van Domselaar via a deflection. In Stanway’s own words, they call that “proper English football”.
The scars of Saturday may have been smarting for Russo when she had another goal chalked off for offside – genuinely offside, this time – against Leah Williamson. Yet when it came to a do-or-die encounter like this one, England would not have to rely on marginal decisions. Toone would put the icing on the cake with a low thump into the bottom corner, perfectly placed by Russo.
A remarkable revival from the Lionesses, and just as steep a descent for the Dutch. They came armed with tulips and a hand-written sign that said “Wiegman come home!” There is now a serious risk that it is they who will be booking the return tickets.
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