England’s men’s team will play in their first-ever European Championship final on Sunday, against Italy at Wembley, and their first major final since they lifted the Jules Rimet trophy after winning the World Cup in 1966.
With 55 years having passed since that moment, there are not many people who know, first-hand, what it is like to represent the nation in such a pressure situation.
Back in 2009, though, England’s women’s team also competed in a Euros final, against a Germany side that would ultimately claim their fifth successful continental crown, winning 6-2.
Anita Asante was part of that team that did England so proud, having failed to get out of their group four years earlier, and she has talked Goal through some of the key points to approaching such an occasion.
Approach the game how works best for you
Is it possible to prepare for a major tournament final like it is any other game?
“For me, I’ve always liked the run up to a game to be consistent. That worked for me,” Asante says.
“But I realise now, even just from starting my own coaching journey, that all players learn differently and experience things sometimes differently as well, in terms of managing and handling pressure, expectation, performance, all of those things.”
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Take the tension out of the moment
Asked if she could go back to that day in 2009, what advice she would give to herself, the defender says: “Don't overly think about the game so much. Just relax, be into your music and be jovial or whatever. Take some of that tension out of the room a little bit.
“I think there was more quietness than there normally is sometimes in a locker room, maybe, because I think everyone was just so aware and feeling like, ‘this is a big moment'.
“There was that feeling of slight trepidation or anxiety, so just to diffuse that feeling a little bit and feel like this is just like, as cliche as it is, any other game. We've all been here before.”
Enjoy it
“Moments like this, they come and go so quickly,” Asante says. “I wish I had perhaps enjoyed it more and lived in it, taken it in.
“It's been interesting watching the men in how they are off the pitch, how relaxed they look and how much fun they look like they're having.
"It's hugely important to have that feeling off the pitch, within the whole group, because I think it definitely can impact how the team performs and how they feel in that moment and beyond.”
Draw on your experiences
Asante was only 24 years old at Euro 2009, but she had already had big experiences – including winning the UEFA Women’s Cup with Arsenal. Gareth Southgate’s squad consists of a lot of young players too, but those like Mason Mount or Phil Foden also have huge experiences.
“For myself, it was recalling back to those moments having played with Arsenal, winning cups, in the league and what it was like to play in those final-type matches,” she remembers.
“There is always a sense of pressure, but I think it's something you manage and you learn to grow with as you grow as a player. Then the more you experience those things, you manage those things better."
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Lean on one another
“Leaning on the group, as a team, having that support, that morale and that belief is super important,” Asante believes.
“We had a very resilient group, because I wouldn't say the tournament was straightforward for us. We knew that it would take every single one of us in order to get over the line and really achieve something. That's what I tried to lean on, the support of my teammates.”
Be confident in yourself
There are a lot of players in Southgate’s side brimming with confidence – be it Raheem Sterling or Harry Kane from their goal-scoring, or players like Jack Grealish, whose games are based on confidence.
In the Euro 2009 final, that was especially important for Asante, as she was coming up against Birgit Prinz, widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the women’s game.
“It's important to have that self-belief, no matter who you meet in the team," she says. "You might not always win, but you have to back yourself, otherwise, what's the point?
“That's why we were selected as players and that's why we're selected as a team to represent our nation, because other people around us believe in us.”
Have no regrets
The defender remembers the final message before the game against Germany as: “'You're in an unbelievable moment with an unbelievable opportunity. Leave it all out there on the pitch'.
“None of us should walk off with any regrets because, regardless of the result, if we feel individually that we've done all we can and given our best, then that's enough," she says.
“That’s what I think makes an elite athlete, or elite teams, that element of the mentality to go, 'I'm going to try my best and do everything I can'.
“None of us are perfect, but if you can always bring that attitude of, 'I'm going to compete, no matter what’, then, actually, if [the opponent's] best is just superior, applaud that."
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If it ends in tears – learn from it
If things do not work out for England on Sunday, it’ll be a day for them to learn from, just as the losing experience of the semi-final at the 2018 World Cup has helped them to this point.
England’s defeat in the Euro 2009 final helped them continue to strive towards closing the gap to the best women’s teams in the world. It can be a big learning curve on a personal level, too.
“Of course, there's a feeling of sadness and disappointment, but at the same time, I learned so much from failure in a way,” Asante says. “It made me realise how much more I wanted it and how much more I want to be at that level. Also, how resilient we were as a team to have even made it that far.
"Off the back of that tournament, I actually found out that I'd done my ACL and played in a final. For me, I was like, 'oh, wow, okay. I know that I have that mental strength'.”