Defeat for England’s ladies, but the future looks bright for women’s football

A record crowd attended Wembley for the friendly between England and Germany women. Whilst the result may not have gone the Lionesses’ way, the signs are positive for the future of women’s football in England. London Phoenix’s Lucy Keys was there to watch the proceedings.

Despite the first England Women’s international game to be held at Wembley Stadium being scheduled for a Sunday with severe TFL engineering works and many local grass roots Greater London Women’s Football League fixture clashes; 45,000 plus fans attended Wembley on a rainy afternoon to watch England Women face Germany for a friendly match.

With so many fans watching at the Stadium and on television, it would be hard to knock the girls for being nervous, with this being the first time England ladies have taken to the rather large stage of Wembley Stadium for an international match.

This in mind; the German team took hold of composure for both sides and managed to secure two goals very early on in the game.

Another goal just before half time for the Germans sealed the game, but England didn’t give in and had a few promising sets of play in the second half.

London Phoenix, A GWFL Team based in Royal Greenwich, was there to show support, as were a mixture of girl’s football teams, families and football fans within the 45,000 stronghold.

Seeing the women’s game on the big stage at such a landmark stadium and witnessing the media support this friendly has generated definitely illustrates a step in the right direction for Women’s Football in England & the FA.

Even though the result was disappointing for the fans and the team, I believe the turnout exemplifies the interest there is for women’s football to be centre stage; 45,000 people STILL turned up to watch the game, despite the numerous obstacles which included train engineering works, hours of incessant rain and one of the strongest women’s international teams as the opposition.

It’s a shame the landmark occasion couldn’t be topped off with a win for England Ladies, but maybe we’ll save our 3-0 win against Germany for a less rainy day.

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http://www.londonphoenixlfc.co.uk

London Phoenix is a fully inclusive women’s football team based in the London Borough of Greenwich, open to anyone over the age of 16 who wants to get involved. 

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