We don't celebrate defeat, but the performance was exceptional. We have to celebrate that. I think the way in which the players executed the gameplan, we haven't conceded from open play. The first one [goal] is frustrating because I think it's really preventable from our point of view, but we'll learn from that. It's 2-0, we're still in the tie. There are improvements to be made, but, overall, I'm really proud of the group.
The BBC Women's Footballer of the Year award launched in 2015. It is decided by a global public vote after a panel of experts - including coaches, players, administrators and journalists - selects a five-player shortlist. Here are the previous winners: 2015: Asisat Oshoala Nigeria and Liverpool forward Asisat Oshoala was the very first BBC Women's Footballer of the Year. Then 20, Oshoala was player of the tournament at the Under-20s World Cup in Canada and helped Nigeria's senior team win the African Women's Championship. Also shortlisted were Veronica Boquete, Nadine Kessler, Kim Little and Marta.
I grew up in a war zone, full of insecurity and injustice. I was at risk of being attacked, singled out, or arrested. Fear came from everywhere: from my parents, from society, from the world, she recalls now. What did we do to deserve this? she constantly asked herself. Honey Thaljieh (Bethlehem, 41) pretended to be a normal girl in a context that wasn't, and she found refuge in the ball. It was a tool to escape social pressure and trauma, to free myself.
Good to see Taylor Hinds on from the start; she's less, er, combative than Katie McCabe but seems to have more zip about her at the moment. Kyra Cooney-Cross in midfield will please a lot of fans who want a bit more oomph in that department. Delighted to see Lotte Wubben-Moy back in, of course; but it only underscores the fact that Leah Williamson is still very much out and very much missed.
Campbell has been without a club since leaving London City Lionesses at the end of last season following their promotion to the WSL. The 32-year-old won 57 caps for Republic of Ireland after making her senior debut in August 2011 against Switzerland. Campbell, who could play left back or centre back, was a member of the Irish squad that qualified for the 2023 Women's World Cup, but she missed the tournament through injury.
"When I was three, they closed my heart up, and as I grew older the difference in leg length grew bigger. "Because the difference was getting so much bigger, I had to get special shoes. On the right side they cut the heel and put extra material in it so I could walk equally. "They measured when I could have surgery when my left leg stopped growing and my right leg could grow equally - and when I was 12 I had that surgery."
I've played in a few different places now and each one has brought different challenges for me, says Eaton-Collins, who also spent time in the US college system and had a short spell back in England with Leicester. Sporting in particular has been a big learning curve for me in terms of the technical side of the game because I'm surrounded by very smart, technical players every day and that's helped bring out a different side to my game.
It was a pitch in the middle of a park, basically, Peter McFarlane, secretary of the Everton Women Official Supporters' Club, says in describing Walton Hall Park, the 500-seat stadium that eventually held a further 1500 spectators before the team moved to Goodison Park. Walton Hall Park was the smallest stadium in the Women's Super League, charming and nostalgic with its railed-off standing space, somewhat isolated outside of the city, and otherwise simply lacking food options and a bar.
Ahead of the 2027 World Cup, the Lionesses will play Brazil, Australia, China and Ghana, with all four games set to be shown live on ITV. The back-to-back Euros winners begin their World Cup qualification in February but ahead of that they will welcome Brazil to Manchester City's Etihad Stadium on Saturday, 25 October. England last met Brazil in the inaugural Women's Finalissima at Wembley in 2023, winning a penalty shoot-out after a 1-1 draw.
"The world has been watching. It will make a very big impact in Africa because we have so many good players and they just need the opportunity to show what they can really do. "It lets others know that everything is achievable and everything is possible. This nomination is not just for me, it is for Africa. "It is for every young girl dreaming to become whatever they want to be. They just have to believe in themselves."
Paired together for their first meeting since a 1-1 draw in 1948, interest in the tie at Blundell Park was so high that League Two Grimsby's website crashed almost immediately. "We had to put a pause on the website until we regrouped on the Thursday morning," said Bancroft. "My phone went crazy. It was a pinch me moment for everyone connected to Grimsby Town."
