England creating legacy of 'determination and resilience', says Asante

Former England international Anita Asante believes the Lionesses have created a legacy of “determination and resilience” after securing back-to-back Euros titles.

England retained the title they won in 2022 in nail-biting fashion on Sunday, defeating Spain 3-1 on penalties following a 1-1 draw.

The Lionesses went beyond 90 minutes in all three of their knockout matches, also beating Sweden on penalties before securing a late win in extra time against Italy in the semi-final.

England are just the second team to retain the Euros title, after Germany.

Asante stated that the way England won the tournament, along with the impact of their 2022 victory, has helped create a new mindset in the country.

“Yeah, I mean, the legacy is huge,” Asante told Stats Perform.

“I think they've already had such impact off the back of the last tournament with inspiring change from a sort of mezzo level of education in schools and trying to get football accessed across schools in England.

“I think, again, to try to normalise women's football in the mainstream is a continual project of eradicating negativity and all the misogyny and all the kind of 'isms' that follow that.

“I think they would have done massive things to try and improve and shift kind of our culture as well. I think the lasting legacy is for anyone, male or female out there, whether you're sports fans or not, is that never-say-die attitude, to always fight and believe and dig deep and show grit, determination and be resilient.

“These are all things that have translated through our screens or in the stadiums to any individual that is going through anything in their life or anything competitively as well.

“You know, that is the legacy. That these are players will do everything to try to win and put our country on the map of the world stage, a European stage.

“I hope that is again another catalyst for further growth and investment and increased visibility and representation across the game, but more widely, just the opportunities with that, grow significantly again.”

England were also behind in all three of their knockouts, leaving it particularly late against Sweden and Italy.

The Lionesses were 2-0 down to Sweden before goals from Lucy Bronze and Michelle Agyemang in the last 15 minutes helped them take the match to extra-time.

Agyemang was the hero again after scoring a 96th-minute equaliser against Italy.

Despite winning the tournament, England led their matches for only four minutes and 52 seconds throughout the knockout stages.

They have also won all four of their penalty shoot-outs under Sarina Wiegman, while Chloe Kelly has scored the decisive spot-kick in three of those wins.

Asante praised the mentality of the England players, particularly Hannah Hampton, who saved two penalties in the final during the shoot-out, and Lucy Bronze, who played the whole tournament with a fractured tibia.

She added: “That stat [leading for four minutes and 52 seconds] just exemplifies what we all witnessed across the knockout phases.

“It also really symbolises the fact that this team has an abundance of character, an abundance of resilience, and also the mental capacity, as well as a physical one, to stay in a game, to believe, to keep trying to do the right things, to make things happen and believe that they will happen, and do everything, and actually enact every action like something positive will come of it.

“That is tough to do when you don't have the majority of the ball or you do have the ball, but you're not as effective as you'd like to be, and the momentum of the game swings or one team is on top at the time, or you're behind as they have been.

“That mental shift is hard because it's also about the hard yards you do within the game mentally to know that we're without the ball, but when we have it, what are we going to do with it? How effective can we be? 

“Hannah Hampton coming up with some unbelievable clutch saves, Lucy Bronze strapping her quad up, getting up again. I think that was the most inspiring and impactful part of this team.”