England Versus America

What a stroke of good fortune! On our street WhatsApp, the one that is a total wind-up when someone pings really early in the morning to complain about being woken up early in the morning by car-horns tooting and wakes you up, four tickets to the England vs America match were being offered at face value. Damn yes! How exciting! It was a nightmare to organise for some reason, but we managed to join the sea of excited people flowing into Wembley Stadium and totter into our seats despite the vertiginous angle and terrifying height of the stadium. What an exciting game! I'd been led to believe that the US team was bound to win, but from where we were perched, it was soon apparent that the England team were more than a match for them. I'm not even really an England supporter, being of Scottish and (ahem) American heritage, but I confess to being blown away by the sheer perkiness and team spirit of this current incarnation of women footballers. The crowd were great- there were lots of children out with their mums and dads, lots of teenage girls with false lashes, ponytails, mobile phones and screechy voices out in a gang for the craic, studenty types, us, and normal blokey football supporters, and we were all out for a great time. It was thrilling to see a team play like a team instead of a set of competing star sportspeople, and there was no doubt that this is what won them the game. Nobody hogged the ball or appeared to need to be a star. They were fearless and solid, and took everything in their stride. The US team, especially after half time, substituted over and over again, but even the fresh energy didn't work. There were lots of close shaves (I literally had my head in my hands at least five times), but it was unbelievably exciting and completely cathartic, especially given the totally toxic political state we find ourselves in. 

God save football if not the King: it was rather funny to her people revert to habit and save the Queen until they remembered during the Nashnal Anthum. Alas we remained seated, Republicans all, but we did clap when both teams took the knee, and of course all of us yelled as the two England goals whizzed into the net.