On a bitter Glasgow night, when the thermometer had dropped to -3C and freezing fog was about to roll in from the Clyde, a parallel universe appeared in France in midsummer.
It also appeared to be a magnet, pulling Lauren James, Lucy Bronze, Beth Mead and their friends even higher as they tried to get their chance to be in the hat not only in Paris, but also in matches in Marseille, Lyon, Nantes, Bordeaux, Saint-Marseille. Étienne and Nice at next year’s Olympics.
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Minutes before the final whistle, a team hoping to be provisionally reborn as Team GB in July and August thought they were halfway there, but instead late goals from the Netherlands against Belgium ensured the Dutch went top of their Nations League group and qualified. for February’s play-off semi-finals.
Despite a heartbreaking 6-0 defeat of Scotland, England’s hopes of becoming one of two European teams to host the Olympics next summer have evaporated. After all, they won’t be returning to Nice as Team GB to revive happy memories of sunbathing on Nice’s pebble beach as they race to the 2019 World Cup semi-finals.
Both England and Scotland have gone in very different directions since Phil Neville’s Lionesses defeated their northern neighbors 2-1 in an extremely close group match on a damp June evening in the hills above Nice four years ago.
It’s the kind of scene where luxury villas above the stadium are in danger of sliding down steep slopes, but here at kick-off England found themselves poised on a deeply worrying precipice.
Defeats away to the Netherlands and Belgium in the Nations League have left the European champions facing ignominy, prompting the normally reserved Sarina Wiegman to urge her players to “go crazy” against Pedro Martínez Losa’s side.
It also helped that the Scotland team, which missed the World Cup qualifiers last summer, was in deep trouble after being relegated to Nations League B.
Martínez Losa’s defensive organization was worryingly haphazard; Mead reminded everyone how much she missed the Lionesses’ dead-ball skills by scoring a superb corner from which Alex Greenwood put England into an early lead.
It was a fine maneuver launched by a striker making his first international appearance since rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament 13 months ago, but Scotland’s utter failure to mark Greenwood did not inspire confidence in their abilities.
Martínez Losa had apparently instructed his team to play from the back, but this proved to be a ridiculously high risk in the face of England’s aggressive press.
Scotland captain Rachel Corsie described as “outrageous and disrespectful” suggestions that her team-mates might cancel the match in the hope of making the GB squad; so God knows how many goals England could have scored if their opponents had not tried.
It speaks volumes that one of Scotland’s best openings came thanks to Bronze’s powerful tackle, which sent Lisa Evans crashing into the box.
Although Barcelona’s right-back got away with it, Bronze arguably represents one of Wiegman’s biggest problems and his biggest assets. A right-back, who is no longer as fast as he used to be, can be eager and reckless enough to gift goals to his opponents.
But with his furious and thrillingly proactive performance, Bronze remains a game-changing performer with the capacity to elevate the performances of those around him. That’s why Neville describes him as “the best player in the world”. Wiegman’s predecessor also believed that he would extend his international career by developing into a midfielder, and failure to do so could shorten his career significantly.
Perhaps he was aware that, at 32 years old and with scars on her knees inherited from six surgeries, Bronze looked angry at the dying of the light here. He was a high-adrenaline player, a complete footballer rather than a hybrid full-back, and at one point moved down the left wing to attack. Scotland could not cope with him.
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Exactly James. The sometimes unplayable Chelsea winger put England on course to correct the Netherlands’ initially superior goal difference after seeing his attempt to cut Lee Alexander from outside the area deflected beyond the goalkeeper. Then, a minute later, he went and did it again, expertly passing between two defenders and firing into the top corner.
Cuthbert, a lone star manning cleverly in Scotland’s midfield, proved beyond doubt that he prioritized his country over Team GB, but Mead quickly settled for an emotional fourth.
France felt they were almost too close when Fran Kirby struck at number five and Kirsty Hanson failed to capitalize on Mary Earps’ mistake. Then the Netherlands scored again. Bronze – who else? – Tried to propel Team GB across the Channel with a spectacular last-gasp challenge goal, but it somehow fell short. France suddenly turned into a cruel chimera.