Only when she was absolutely sure she was ready did she begin the walk: one that no one had done for more than half a century and that she sometimes felt no one would ever do again. Now here she was, a 25-year-old from Milton Keynes, a town that has long been used as a byword for gentle, strolling glory and history. England’s wait for their national football team to win a major trophy, now ended with a 2-1 win over Germany on Sunday, has been long and arduous. In the years since her men’s team won the 1966 World Cup, her drought has been immortalized in song and become something of a running joke, all designed as a salve for a national pain. Never, however, was it as poignant as it was in the final 10 minutes and 42 seconds of the 2022 Women’s European Championship final, in that eternity between Chloe Kelly’s goal that gave England the lead against Germany and his happy treble whistle that confirmed its meaning: that England were European champions at last. that football, as the song says, had finally come home. Beth Mead, with coach Sarina Wiegman. Mead was honored twice, as top scorer and best player of the tournament. Credit…Franck Fife/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images England’s players had spent that time drawing every last drop of energy from their exhausted bodies, not to make anything happen, but to make sure nothing happened at all. The 87,192 fans – that was the announced attendance – who had come to Wembley to see the end of history whistled and sang, roared and groaned, creating whatever displacement activity they could think of to make the time pass a little faster. They had reason to be nervous. England had propelled themselves powerfully into this final, driven by the fierce partisanship of their home crowd, the sense of destiny that rallied as each step was taken and each obstacle overcome. Germany, the eight-time champions, provided a daunting final test, but Sarina Wiegman’s side had built such momentum that no obstacle seemed too steep. This would hardly have been detracted from the spectacle as the teams lined up for the national anthems, Alexandra Popp – Germany’s leading scorer, her captain, her totem – standing not among the starters but disappointed among the substitutes, the victim of a “muscular problem” sustained in the pre-match warm-ups. The odds tilted a little more in the home side’s favor with this twist, hope now turned to expectation. That will always be the question for Germany, of course – what might have happened if Popp had been fit, if she hadn’t had to shuffle her roster at the last minute – but that doesn’t mean she’s resigned to fate. Germany by no means went quietly. The first half was a stalemate. The second quickly turned from tense to fractious and something closer to punishment. It had the air of a game that could be settled by a moment of bright, blinding light, and England found it: Kiera Walsh finally provided a pocket of air, cutting the German defense in two. Ella Toone was quick-thinking enough to slot the ball past Merle Frohms, the onrushing keeper. The ball seemed to take an age to fall from the sky. Some of the crowd had given it up as lost. And then it fell, into the net, and the pitch melted into a light bulb. Ella Toone’s goal soars over Germany goalkeeper Merle Frohms.Credit…Justin Tallis/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images The euphoria proved fleeting. Less than 15 minutes later, Germany were level, a classy, decisive move completed by the outstanding Lina Magull, drawing the song from England’s hearts and the air from its lungs. Extra time has arrived. The same goes for penalties. Whatever the gender of the participants, England has been committed for decades to knowing how this particular story ends. This time, however, was different. Perhaps the most important victory was already secured, long before Germany struggled to clear their lines after Lauren Hemp’s corner: Perhaps the most lasting triumph of Euro 2022 will be its impact on women’s football in England in particular and Europe more generally. Perhaps its true significance will be measured, in time, by the record attendances the tournament has attracted, the huge television audiences who have tuned in to watch the matches, the thousands who have bought shirts and the millions who have engaged in heated debate. on the relative merits of Ellen White and Alessia Russo. Zooming out, what matters most is how the country — and the continent — has become enthralled by the competition. Even the queen can see that. “I hope you are as proud of the impact you have had on your sport as you are of the result today,” she said in a statement released by Buckingham Palace. But that’s not really how elite sports work. These players are conscious, of course, of the need to inspire women and girls. They embrace their status as role models, their station at the vanguard of an ongoing struggle. But they are athletes. They want, more than anything else, to win. They don’t want to be an example but something. they want to be an example of something. It was what kept them going as their bodies tired and their nerves frayed. It was this that allowed Hemp to jog in to take another corner after being run on the ground for 110 minutes. It was this that allowed Kelly, as the ball raced around the box, to react quicker, stabbing the ball between a thick German leg on her second swing. And it was that, in the agony of those last 10 minutes and 42 seconds, that inspired them to hang on. Only then, and only when she was truly ready, did Williamson walk up to the trophy, the first England captain to do so in two generations. She took it in her hands and lifted it into the air as fireworks exploded behind her and cannons shot brightly into the sky. The wait is finally over. The pain is finally over. An English football team is the champion of Europe. An England football team is champion of something. Williamson was right to drag it out for a few more seconds. It was worth the wait. Credit…Franck Fife/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
