Lionesses redefine 'fashionably late' with Euro 2025 semi-final victory

In elite sport, punctuality is a necessity. The environs of professional football do not allow for players sauntering into training 10 minutes behind time, with such behaviour reprimanded with fines, or worse, being dropped.

It is a regimented lifestyle that has no regard for the concept of ‘fashionably late’.

For the rest of us mere mortals, the term evokes a conundrum grappled with at every social gathering - the art of arriving when the atmosphere has built but not too late to miss the party.

READ MORE: Chloe Kelly net worth, salary and England Euro 2025 hero's beautiful wedding to husband Scott

READ MORE: Kiera Walsh insists Spain 'deserve' to enjoy Euro 2025 final without 'controversy' of World Cup

But on Tuesday night in Geneva, the otherwise punctual Lionesses brought a whole new meaning to the concept of lateness, as they twice delivered at the death to not just arrive at the party but bring it themselves.

For all of 90 minutes, Sarina Wiegman’s side had looked defeated. Italy’s low block had worked to full effect as they packed bodies behind the ball with five at the back.

A break forward on 33 minutes had seen Sofia Cantore surge down the right to cross for Barbara Bonansea to capitalise on England’s profligacy in defence and rifle home at the far post.

Their tactics were paying off to a tee and Wiegman looked reluctant to make changes to a side who looked out of ideas in attack.

While the Italian support boogied on with rousing choruses emanating from a sea of blue, the English party seemed to be over before it had really started in Geneva as the band produced yet another limp rendition of the Sarina-adapted version of ‘Tequila’.

Had you arrived at this gathering before the 90th minute, you may very well have felt the party was winding down as hopes of a third consecutive major tournament final for the Lionesses waned.

The empty glasses of past glories against the Netherlands and Wales remained scattered around as an overly intoxicated figure in the corner was trying to tell tales of that time three years ago when England won at Wembley.

But while it might not pass on the training pitch, fashionably late is Wiegman’s calling card when it comes to substitutions.

And while some people try to time their arrival for the peak of the party, other bring it with them. In England’s Euro 2025 semi-final, Michelle Agyemang proved just that person.

Thrown on in the 85th minute as Wiegman sought change through the introduction of two upfront, with Aggie Beever-Jones entering alongside the 19-year-old, her impact would almost be instant once more.

Having delivered the equaliser against Sweden, Agyemang lived up to her billing once more.

With a name that means ‘saviour of the nation’ in Ghanaian Akan, the forward pounced on a rebound from Beth Mead’s header, showed maturity to take a touch to her right before firing the equaliser home.

For Wiegman, who relied on the last-minute impact once more, it almost came too late. Seven minutes of added time had been announced, and it was in the 96th minute that Agyemang found the net, and with it the aux cord to plug in a microphone and announce herself to a nation.

As the England crowd erupted, the dying embers of hope were reignited in the Stade de Geneve as the Lionesses once more clawed themselves back from a seemingly impossible predicament.

And they would do it again in extra-time.

Every coach likes to profess that they do not ever plan for the game to go to penalties - a win in extra-time appearing the moral coaching high ground.

But as Wiegman withdrew penalty taker after penalty taker with fans watching Alessia Russo, Georgia Stanway and Lauren James depart the pitch before time, she could show proof of such a tact.

Finishing the game with Lauren Hemp at left-back, Beth Mead operating in the space of a false nine sandwiched between Ella Toone and Agyemang with Beever-Jones and Chloe Kelly on the wings, it was kitchen sink football at its finest.

But banking on a team that had taken 96 minutes to bag their first to score another inside another 30 appeared risky, but belief persisted.

Reaching finals has become a culture within the Lionesses. A strong-willed determination to refuse to accept defeat appears to carry them over the line time and again.

Regardless of performance or personnel, England will find a way and in the 119th minute referee Ivana Martincic pointed to the spot after Mead had been brought to the ground in the box.

Enter party-bringer and player for the big moments Chloe Kelly. Stepping up with the familiar hop, skip and jump she fired her penalty low to the left where it was met by Laura Giuliani.

But as if teasing the onlooking England crowd, she raced onto the rebound to fire home the winner to mark the latest goal scored in Women’s EUROs history.

As the party erupted in Geneva, Kelly, Agyemang and Wiegman had just redefined the meaning of fashionably late and in doing so sent England to the Euro 2025 final.