Leah Williamson eyes ultimate England comeback after 'awful' World Cup experience

Leah Williamson still feels the pain of having to watch the 2023 World Cup final from the stands, but can put that all behind her on Sunday. Williamson captained England to Euros glory in 2022 but suffered an ACL injury the following spring, preventing her from playing a part in Australia and New Zealand.

The Lionesses lost to Spain in that World Cup final, but can take revenge on the same opponents in Basel - with Williamson once again wearing the armband. “It was awful,” Williamson said.

“Once you're part of a team, being on the outside, I know how tired you are when you get to that stage and how much a tournament takes out of you - and to be completely useless, that probably bothered me the most.”

She added: “That feels like a really long time ago, which is probably a benefit to the whole squad, but anybody would give anything to be a part of their team when they're going through moments like that. It was tough. The only plus was sitting next to Jill [Scott] and sharing it with somebody who knew what it felt like”

Williamson watched that 2023 final with her team-mates’ loved ones, and admitted the Lionesses “haven't been very kind” to their friends and families by putting them through the stress of extra-time against Italy and penalties against Sweden. She was substituted in both of those games, and being forced to watch from the bench has brought back that familiar feeling of helplessness… with a few key differences.

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“Obviously your role becomes slightly redundant but there are still ways you can affect the team,” Williamson added. “We have a good process in those moments so even if you’re off the pitch you have a role to play, so it’s maybe easier than being in the stands.

“Also it means you get to run on and celebrate with the team if they do well. But I think we have so many leaders in so many different ways, you have your real conventional ways of leadership that people would recognise.

“People that offer certain things in certain moments, and they know that’s their bag, so to speak, and they really step up. I think we have a lot of those characters and maybe we’ve created a good environment for those people to feel comfortable enough to do it. But I do feel everybody really knows when they can step up and contribute, and they have done.”

While opponents Spain have trailed for just four minutes this tournament, England’s route has been far less smooth. Ella Toone joked that the team had “nearly killed" the manager with their dramatic comebacks, and Wiegman tried to explain her calm exterior.

“I’m having a heart-attack too, I just don’t show it,” she said. “We try to prepare for the game and what we might need in certain circumstances if we want to change things. It’s what we talk about all the time.

“We have spoken about all the scenarios but during the game it’s what we feel is necessary. What we want is when we need to change we can do it very quickly.”

For Williamson, there’s also a change to make personal history after winning the Champions League with Arsenal, but she’s not thinking that far ahead. “I think for all of us, all 23, you share it. You feel like you share those things,” she said.

“Somebody has to wear an armband, somebody has to do that role, but we all just feel it together and it's less of an ‘I won this’ and more ‘we’, always. So of course there'll be lovely things to talk about later down the line and if you want to look at success that way, I would probably say that success to me is happiness in your circumstance and your company and I think that's more important than those things to me.”

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