England captain Millie Bright says that the team are “absolutely heartbroken” after the defeated Lionesses “gave everything” in the Women’s World Cup final in Sydney on Sunday.
Spain emerged 1-0 winners from the decider thanks to a first-half strike from Olga Carmona. It’s the country’s second World Cup triumph after the men’s national team won in 2010.
“This is really hard to take,” Bright confessed to BBC One after the final whistle. “We gave it everything.
“In the first half we weren’t at our best, we bounced back in the second half. We had chances, hit the bar but we just didn’t have the final edge and they got theirs in back of the net.”
When asked whether the England players still had belief they could win after conceding, the Chelsea defender said: “There was a lot of belief, we have been 1-0 down and we never give in. It’s hard to take but it’s football.
“We’re absolutely heartbroken. We gave everything. Unfortunately we just weren’t there today.”
Despite the defeat, Bright expressed “a massive amount of pride” in her teammates. “The girls were unbelievable. We had a lot of critics, a few lost belief in us but we never stopped believing.
“Sometimes football goes for you, sometimes against you. We played in a World Cup final. In a few weeks we will appreciate this day, but we want to be winners.”
Spain began the brighter of the two teams, creating the greater volume of chances in an open-ended and frenetic start to the game. But England were still able to expose gaps at the back and went closest to opening the scoring when Lauren Hemp’s strike smacked off the crossbar.
Yet it was Carmona who drew first blood in the 16th minute after combining with Barcelona’s Mariona Caldentey, the left-back drilling the ball into the bottom-right corner.
Wiegman wasted no time to make changes following a stuttering first 45 minutes, subbing on Lauren James and Chloe Kelly for Alessia Russo and Rachel Daly.
It had the desired effect, in that England were much improved after the interval and grabbed a foothold in the game. But Spain continued to pile on the pressure as the half wore on.
They were handed the opportunity to double their lead when, following a lengthy VAR review, Keira Walsh was judged to have handled the ball in the box. Mary Earps was equal to Jennifer Hermoso’s effort, saving the penalty to keep the Lionesses in the game.
But Jorge Vilda’s side held on until the final whistle, which came after 13 minutes of injury time, to secure their first ever Women’s World Cup trophy.
