Friday 15th July
The Lionesses final group game was in Southampton against Northern Ireland, so naturally I decided to stay somewhere else fairly local, in Portsmouth this time, as the hotels there were cheaper! The hotel was right next to the station so after dropping my bag off, I got the train to Southampton and was there just after 4pm. I walked down to the Town Quay and the Dancing Man Brewery where the Free Lionesses Fan Embassy was and had a drink there. After that, I went to the fan park which was busy with lots of England and Northern Ireland fans. The Northern Ireland ones were making more of the noise. I saw my friends Flora and Ben there and it was nice having a catch up with them.
The stadium was about a 10/15 minute walk from the fan park. I got there in time to see the teams arrive on their coaches. I was sat a lot lower down for this match, about 12 rows from the pitch and just to the side of one of the goals, which made a nice change after being up in the gods for the first two Lionesses games. The bad news though was I was sat just in front of where the England band were positioned! More bad news was when the stadium announcers trying to get the crowd to do a Mexican wave before the start of the match!
Northern Ireland started okay and I thought caused England a few more problems than Norway had in the last match. England were awarded a penalty for handball, but this was overturned after a VAR check as there had been an England handball in the build up. It took until nearly half time for Fran Kirby to open the scoring for the Lionesses with Beth Mead quickly adding a second before half time. Alessia Russo came on at half time and scored twice early in the second half. An own goal from Kelsie Burrows later in the half completed the scoring. There was another great atmosphere at this match with the Northern Ireland fans singing non-stop throughout it!
Southampton was busy, maybe as expected on a Friday evening, as I walked back to the station. There was a singer performing outside one of the bars on what was a mild evening. The train back to Portsmouth was busy, all four carriages being standing room only for most of the journey. I was back at my hotel before midnight which wasn’t too bad!
Saturday 16th July
After having breakfast at the hotel (it was a buffet one and I was wondering how many times it would be acceptable to go up for food), I got the train back to London and home for a few hours.
For the final games in group B, I went to Brentford again to watch Denmark v Spain. A nice easy trip across London for me for this one. Near Gunnersbury station was the hotel that Spain were staying at and their coach was ready outside to drive them over to the stadium. Outside the ground, I saw both sides arrive, Denmark followed by Spain! The Spain fans made a lot of noise when they arrived!
I was sat at the opposite end this time at the Brentford Community Stadium, but again the main section of Denmark supporters were in the corner close to where I was sitting. My brother came to this match with me for his first (and maybe only) experience of Euro 2022! I also knew a few other people at this match but missed them!
In terms of entertainment and chances, this was the worst match I have been to so far during the Euros. Denmark were happy to defend and counter, whilst Spain didn’t create that much despite a lot of possession. I was thinking this was going to be the first 0-0 of the tournament after the first half. One of the highlights of the evening was a girl getting 16 out of 16 in the half time competition by naming all the competing sides in group order. Denmark started to attack a bit more as the second half went on, they had to win to get through, but Spain scored the only goal in the 90th minute thanks to Marta Cardona’s header.
Instead of going to Acton Town like I did last time, I walked to Chiswick Park station this time and had to wait 15/20 minutes for a train to arrive! This meant I didn’t get home until after midnight.
Sunday 17th July
I headed north for a few days to watch the final games in groups C (Switzerland v Netherlands) and D (Iceland v France) in Sheffield and Rotherham. I got an early morning train to Chesterfield again as this is where I was staying and the group C games kicked off at 5pm. It was too early to check in to the hotel but I could leave my bag there. I got a slower bus to Sheffield this time which took me through some Derbyshire/South Yorkshire towns and villages.
The fan park was busy again, lots of Netherlands fans in orange shirts and Switzerland in their red ones. The Dutch bus was there, as were some singers on stage which got the crowd swinging scarfs above their heads and doing the conga to some of the songs! There are seriously no other fans like the Dutch pre-match! Then it was time for the fan walk to Bramall Lane. I walked along with it this time and what an experience that was, one I will never forget on the way to a football match! It went along at a sedate pace, stopping a couple of times along the way. There was music playing from the bus and most of the fans were wearing orange and waving flags. It took about 45 minutes to get to the stadium.
I was sat in the John Street stand again, with the Netherlands fans in front of me. With the hot weather arriving, there was a cooling break during the match for the first time during there Euro’s. Switzerland had to win to have any chance of going through to the quarter-finals. There were no goals in the first half, but the Netherlands took the lead in the 49th minute when Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic scored an own goal. Switzerland weren’t behind for long as Geraldine Reuteler equalised. Both goalkeepers made some good saves during the match. Netherlands scored three times in the last ten minutes with Leuchter getting two of them and Victoria Pelova the other. One did take a long VAR check with those of us in the stadium not knowing exactly what was being checked as no additional info is given on the screens.
The 4-1 win for the Netherlands saw them get through to play France next. Their players and fans celebrated by dancing along to “Links Rechts” in the stadium and there was more singing and dancing in the concourses as the fans left! The attendance of 22,569 was a record for a group game in the Women’s Euros not involving the host nation, and the third time during these Euro’s that record had been broken.
I got the rail replacement bus back to Chesterfield, once I had found the right queue and not finish up going to Stockport along with the majority of the Netherlands fans! It was nice to be at the hotel by just after 9pm after a couple of late nights!
Monday 18th July
It was hot!! I stayed in my hotel room most of the day (thankful for the air-conditioning), but did got for a slow walk around Chesterfield when I went out to get some lunch. With the trains starting to muck around because of the heat, I decided to get the quick bus to Sheffield and a train to Rotherham from there. This all worked out and I was in Rotherham by 6:30pm. It took about 15 minutes to walk to the stadium from the station. My seat for this game was on the second row from the front, just to the side of the goal! It was baking just sat there so god knows what it would be like for the players of Iceland and France running about on the pitch.
France had already qualified as group winners and Iceland knew a win would see them go through too but a draw or loss could still see them go through depending on the result between Italy and Belgium. France took the lead in the first minute when Melvine Malard scored. Iceland had chances to equalise that went narrowly wide, France had two goals disallowed after VAR checks and between them the woodwork was hit three times. Iceland were awarded a penalty in injury time which Dagny Brynjarsdottir socred in the 102nd minute of the match, 101 minutes after France had scored! The referee blew the final whistle straight after this. With Belgium winning the other match it meant Iceland were out. It was a really good atmosphere again and it was amazing to see and hear the Iceland fans do the Thunderclap live!
I had a bit of a wait for a train back to Sheffield but by the time I got back there, all the trains to Chesterfield had been cancelled and the last bus had left! I finished up getting a taxi back!
Written by Paul Donegan (@PaulDonegan1980 on Twitter and Instagram)
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