It came home

It took scoring one of the more beautiful goals in any final, giving up one just about as good, and then winning it with one at the opposite end of the artful spectrum, as scruffy as you can get, to win it. It took a long time to wade through every narrative that England's women's national team had to carry into and through this final. It was always apparent that this England team was different, that they could punch through a national mindset that always seems more home than victory, and so it proved. Football came home after England won the European Championship. We will get to that if this football is really England.

It might have been because Germany didn't get the buzz before the tournament that the hosts, Spain, or France did. The biggest challenge for England was Germany. With some of the chances and all the Germany corners created, what would have been the outcome had she been on the business end? There are always adjustments to be made, depth tested, and this one was no different.

This one was a stalemate for most of the match, and turned pretty chippy, as referee Kateryna Monzul decided if weaponry wasn't produced, it didn't merit a foul. It led to a pretty stodgy viewing affair, with not much actual soccer being played for more than a few passes in a row.

The pre-game talk was about the two Golden Boot candidates in Popp and Beth Mead being on the same field, but it always felt like the game was going to be decided by which defensiveMidfielder got the game under control. England players were flying off of her at every turn, just like every other opponent of hers had found, as she took home the Young Player of the Tournament award. Spain and Sweden took special care to make sure she didn't get her head up, because she is England's metronome.

Fran Kirby was marked out of the game by Obedorf and the german central defense only lost their mark when Toone ran off her. Walsh only needed to look at the finish.

It was a surprise life jacket for England as the second half saw Germany start to really lean on England and create a few chances. Normally teams trying to cut off passes to Walsh would allow defenders to send passes through those lines to either Kirby or Stanway. Those passes went loose a lot more today than they have in the past. England was gasping until the goal as possession went back and forth between Germany and England.

They tried to hold onto it but couldn't. Spain and Sweden targeted Rachel Daly on England's left side, and that's where Germany's goal came from.

The gremlins started popping up in everyone's mind. There are penalties against Germany. The rigidness of England's manager would cause it to suffer again. England was turned into a monster by SarinaWiegman, and her steady hand was what was needed from the host nation. The football she has engineered for this team to play has been amazing at times. She will point to Toone and Kelly scoring the goals and suggest I get fucked, but you can write her substitution pattern down from memory.

It was right to wonder if starting Ellen White was the right thing to do. Whether the gun should have been pulled before the start or at the beginning. It isn't an answer to do things because that's how you've done them. It's for now.

One of those narratives could have saved England. After bossing the first half of extra time, Germany seemed to accept penalties as the outcome they would most prefer in the second half. Yes, right? England got more involved, got a corner, and then the girl earned herself a free drink for the rest of her life.

The most famous photo in England's football history is this one.

From there it was some of the most delicious shithousery and time-wasting from Kelly and Lucy Bronze on the right side of England.

Something has been won by England. It is a pretty wonderful sentence. The way the women's game has been treated for so long around the world left them so far behind, and the FA's barring women from playing the game for so long is what left them so far behind. It took too long and is still slow, but there is a special joy in seeing something happen first. The fans it will generate will be where the WSL could go. A salty discharge from one's eye can be created by it.

England isn't the home of women's football. It can be rented there for a while.