Our all-conquering Lionesses ripped up the ‘so near yet so far’ script that bedevilled English football for 56 years
Kelly’s heroes
EVERYONE seems to know the score. But we’ve not seen this before.
By winning their first major trophy in last night’s thrilling Euros final at Wembley, our all-conquering Lionesses not only ripped up the “so near yet so far” script that has bedevilled English football for 56 years.
They also capped a game-changing tournament for women’s football in this country.
If you had predicted even a few years ago that our Lionesses would be able to set a record crowd for any Euros game — men’s or women’s — of 87,192, you would likely have been laughed out of town.
And even former cynics have been swept up by the quality of football on display now the team are full-time pros.
As for the final itself, the scars of previous defeats by Germany for the Lionesses and Three Lions alike meant last night was never likely to be less than nerve-jangling.
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Even after the opposition lost their star striker to injury in the warm-up, even after Ella Toone’s classy lob put England ahead, the millions watching feared dreaded penalties were inevitable, especially after Germany equalised.
Thankfully our dauntless stars and their steely Dutch manager Sarina Wiegman held their nerve rather better.
As for the moment when supersub Chloe Kelly wildly celebrated her late goal to break German hearts and inspire a new generation of players, there’s only one word for it.
Wunderbar!
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Living dread
WE’RE all fed up with hearing the phrase “cost-of-living crisis” but — like it or not — the reality is shuffling ever nearer, like a horror film zombie.
Those whose fixed-rate mortgages have recently ended, or whose energy tariffs are rocketing, have already felt the first clammy hand on their neck.
With the energy price cap set to go up by ANOTHER 78 per cent in October and inflation biting, over half the public now expect riots this winter.
Over a month is left of an increasingly fractious battle to be PM, but Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak should remember they share the end goal of curbing inflation, boosting growth and lowering taxes.
It’s just the order they pointedly disagree on.
Whoever wins must hope a despairing public can keep patient long enough for them to bolster the support package.
Special farces
THE SAS are famously trained to navigate any terrain to complete their mission.
So it says a lot about the utter chaos of this summer’s rail strikes that even our intrepid heroes were forced to delay a 75-year anniversary celebration.
If SAS author Andy McNab is moved to turn the veterans’ latest struggle into a novel, we’ve got the title sorted for him:
Bravo Tube Zero.