Soccer-English grit beats Spanish skill to secure Euro glory
BASEL, Switzerland (Reuters) -England were on the ropes often at the Women's Euros, and they always found a knockout blow, before beating Spain in a final penalty shootout to show that skill may be a way to dominate games, but it takes the heart of a lioness to win them.
Chloe Kelly was the hero, firing in the spot-kick to ensure the defending champions retained their crown, but every English player had to dig deep to thwart a Spanish side who were best everywhere except on the final scoreboard.
Down 2-0 at the break, England's tournament almost ended in the quarter-finals as Sweden looked set to cruise through, but Kelly and Michelle Agyemang dragged the champions back into the game with late goals before they won the penalty shootout despite having four kicks saved.
They made heavy weather of Italy in the semis and again Kelly came to the rescue, scoring a 119th-minute winner to send them into the final despite another flawed performance.
In contrast, Spain cruised, purring like the engine of one of the many sports cars that can be seen zipping along city streets in the more affluent parts of Switzerland. They beat the host nation, and eased past Germany in the semis to make the final.
They met England in the 2023 World Cup final when a first-half goal set Spain on course for victory and their first major title. The story was almost a carbon copy on Sunday as they took the lead through Mariona Caldentey in the 25th minute.
Led by playmaker Aitan Bonmati, the Spaniards sensed a weakness on England's left flank and probed it relentlessly until Ona Batlle came up with the cross for Caldentey to score.
KELLY INTRODUCTION
The introduction of Kelly before the break for the injured Lauren James strengthened that wing, and when Kelly set Russo up for the equaliser the tide did not exactly turn, but the belief of the English players certainly grew.
Battered by a number of crunching tackles, fullbacks Lucy Bronze and Alex Greenwood continued to throw themselves into every challenge, while captain Leah Williamson made a lung-bursting run to create a late chance that hinted at reserves of energy not even she knew she had.
Having been to the brink so many times, England believed.
When the game finished 1-1 and the penalty shootout awaited, the English players seemed relaxed and confident, with their Spanish counterparts looking slightly more on edge.
The Spaniards had the game in the palms of their hands for 120 minutes, but it began slipping away as Hannah Hamton started to save their spot-kicks, first from Caldentey and then from Bonmati, before Paralluelo fired her effort wide.
Kelly made no mistake, lashing the ball into the net as the English fans in the stadiumerupted in joy.
"This is England, I think this is our moment, we've dug in for the 120 minutes, we've done what we needed to do to keep Spain out. It was just one kick and that was it and so we did that this time," Hampton said.
For all their dominance, this is a final that Spain will feel got away from them. Despite all their success in recent years, they lacked the cutting edge they needed to get the job done, and when it really mattered,
England had it in spades.
(Reporting by Philip O'Connor, editing by ed Osmond)
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