The Rest Is Football: Daly Brightness - Euro 2022 Rewind: Sticker Books, Family Picnics & Rach Being “Put On Her Arse”

Episode Date: July 15, 2025

We’re into the knockout stages of Euro 2022! Millie and Rach reminisce about a tight and nervy Quarter-Final against Spain, which ended up going to extra time.  The girls discuss what it was like in the days before the game, how they relaxed away from the England camp, how often they got to see their families and all the little distraction techniques - including sticker books and TikTok dances - that it might surprise you to hear professional sports people do in their spare time.  As for the game itself, have a listen to find out why it proved to be oh so memorable for Millie, and perhaps a bit less of a happy memory for Rach. Wherever it takes you. It Starts with a Swipe ®. Download Tinder today. https://tinder.com/en-GB/download  For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Before we get into today's episode of Daily Brighteners, we just want to say a huge thank you to our proud partners, Shaw, for being with us from the very beginning and what a start it's been. I think the reaction to our podcast so far has been nothing but positive from our family, from our friends, from our teammates, from our fans. It's been really nice to see all the positive reviews and feedback, so keep that all coming. Yeah, I also think that we've probably learned a lot about ourselves and me and Rach always talk about this podcast, you know, it's more than just us chatting, it's actually like a little therapy session.

And I've actually learned a lot about myself and I feel like it's given me the confidence to open up a little bit more and show that more vulnerable side. So, yeah, it's been really, really refreshing. And we also get to appreciate all the things that we've achieved. Rach, everything you're achieving with Villa, you know, the form at the end of the season, me getting my 200th in the WSL and talking about all our accomplishments, the hard times. Yeah, it's becoming a really nice platform actually, and I'm really enjoying

where it's going. But thank you to everyone for the amazing support. So thanks again to Shaw for showing up for Women's Football and back the pod from day one and thank you all for tuning in. At Sobeys, our 100% fresh guarantee couldn't be easier. We guarantee freshness store-wide in our produce, bakery, meat departments and beyond, or your money back. Yes, it's that easy. Visit Sobeys.com to learn more restrictions apply see in store online for details hello and welcome to the rest of football daily brightness we have finally reached the knockout stages of our euro 2022 rewind miniseries if you

haven't checked out the previous episodes on the group stages feel free to go back to Daily Brightness and have a look at those before continuing. But Rach, take us back to that day after the Northern Ireland game. Yeah I think that was a different one wasn't it because I think in the group games you've got a focus haven't you, you've got three games you know who you're playing against, you know when you're playing them, you can kind of drip-feed information in as and when but I think we had five days between Northern Ireland game and the Spain game. And I think when we got Spain, we were like, obviously we've had the wall charts.

We're following who we're gonna get if we, you know. We always know on the wall charts, you can be like, oh, we could get that, or we could get that. Yeah, and I think, you know, we always say like, if you wanna be the best, gotta beat the best. So I think we were all so excited for that game, because it was like, right,

this is a huge test for us here. Like, this is gonna be a massive, massive game. But I think what was nice about that, after that Northern Ireland game, we had a bit of time, so where we had maybe had two days in between to travel and whatever, like there was five days,

and we obviously got after the Northern Ireland game another family day, and you wanna talk about what a family day looks like? Yeah, so I think in the tournaments, depending on where you are, obviously every family day and you can talk, you wanna talk about what a family day looks like? Yeah, so I think in the tournaments, depending on where you are, obviously, every family day is different, but what was really nice is you have the option to either stay at the hotel,

like your family could come and use the games room or you could stay around the Lensbury or wherever you were, or you could go out and have like, if you've got your four hours, you just go and go wherever. And I remember we went and met my family and we had like a little picnic in, I don't even know what the park was called.

We just got an Uber there. But it was like really nice, like we just literally went and escaped and just chilled. And yeah, it was just, I swear the dogs were there as well. Yeah, the dogs were there. Yeah, they were there. So it was just like a little bit of like normal life and a little bit of home,

but without like the chaotic side of like life, a little bit of home, but without the chaotic side of the outside world and the hype and everything. But yeah, the family days were really, really important. I think it was a moment to appreciate what you'd already achieved and just a reminder of how good things were, but also what was yet to come. And kind of just your family giving you that belief and that confidence and just a little checking really.

Because like you said, tournament football is extremely hard and that confidence and just a little checking really. Because like you said, tournament football is extremely hard and tasking and mentally it can be very, very tough. But I do think having those five days really helps you you know, kind of look at the success because we'd had an unbelievable group stage and we'd had some unbelievable results.

But then also just like preparing yourself for like what's to come because now it's like business end. It's knockout season. Yeah, and I think like, like I said, when you know what the three teams that you're playing actually kind of have in your mind, like what's going to be, what you're planning, but the next game it's like, it's just Spain.

So I think what we always found worked well with us is, they never overloaded us with information, did they? So it wasn't like, oh, we've got a spare two hours here, let's cram information in. It was like short and sweet, effective, like information, did they? So it wasn't like, oh, we've got a spare two hours here, let's cram information in. It was like short and sweet, effective information and details that we needed. And drip feed those bits of information into, we'd review Northern Ireland and then we'd,

well, we did that, didn't we? As soon as we played a game, X'd it off the next day, didn't we? Box it off, review that game, see how you've done, what we need to work on for the next game, link it to Spain. And remember that was so helpful because I think in the past we've had so many meetings,

haven't we? Like in previous years, in previous tournaments, it was like refreshing to just only get the information that you needed as and when. So that was good leading up to it. I think we had a lot more time to actually like prepare for somebody like Spain, you need to prepare, don't you? So, but again, I think less is more sometimes

with footballers, isn't it? I was just gonna say you can over prepare and everyone can think, oh my God, we're playing Spain. Let's go crazy on the analysis. Like, let's like add even more pressure. But actually it was a knockout game. We're playing in the quarterfinal. We've got Spain, they were top team.

Our preparation didn't change. It stayed the same no matter who we played. That's what I mean because if they start to ramp up all that prep it's like oh now we need to panic, there was no panic was there? No, none at all. I've never felt so calm going into them games, all them games. That was the feeling throughout the whole tournament though and it was just this underlying belief of like we're going to win but we never said it.

No, no one ever said that. It was just the way we acted, it was our body language, it was our actions on the pitch. It was just, I don't know, it's really, really hard to explain, but the lead up was good. I remember everyone just been on it in training, no corners caught at all. We knew what we needed to do was all about feeling good,

players just thriving in sessions. Whether you played, whether you started, whether you were a sub, everyone's energy was just like, we are going to win, but we keep it in house. You know, I think I liked so much about the Euros compared to the World Cup was our base camp, because the pitch is on site.

How much of a help was that? Yeah. Like, everything was just like, roll out in the morning, get your breakfast, do your wellness, whatever, then you've got training. And it wasn't like this just like, roll out in the morning, get your breakfast, do your wellness, whatever, then you've got training. And it wasn't like this, like, I know this sounds really like whiny, but in a tournament, how hard is it to like get on the bus

and go 25 minutes to training, and then 25 minutes back, and then you've got to wait for anyone to finish whatever they need to do. Do you remember that? In the World Cup, it was like, God, like, if someone wants to do 20 more minutes on the pitch and then they've got to wait, it's got to wait for the bus. And I think that's where it was really good, I found,

because it was nice, say nice weather, and we can watch the players that didn't play do their session. And then we were all like sort of together, but then you could leave as you want to leave. And I found that was honestly one of the most beneficial things that we had the pitch on site.

It was so good. And for anyone listening, the Lensbury basically created us a pitch. So you come out the hotel and then you would literally walk like 100 meters and the pitch would be there. You go a little bit further and then the gym was there and you'd finish, like you said,

if you wanted to do a little bit extra, we'd just go do our ice baths and then crack on with our afternoon. We weren't waiting around for each other. You actually found by having that kind of set up, a lot of people stayed and watched the blowout, which was really good, because if you started,

and then you were watching the girls do a blowout, that's the worst thing to do when you wanna play. Everyone wants to play, but only 11 players can start. So we were all supporting the ones that didn't get as many minutes, and they were just smashing out the session and they really appreciated us being able to watch and it was just like such a good feel.

I think because we had the option of the freedom. Yeah, it made it easier. Do you remember in the World Cup, obviously we were very fortunate enough to start but we would go all the time and watch the non-starters train. But we would advise not to go take the bus to the recovery. Yeah, but we were like, no, we've done it before.

We want to do it. We want to support the players and stuff like that. But it was hard getting up and getting in that bus and then traveling 30 minutes to go there. So I think that was honestly underrated. Yeah. The Lensbury is like the perfect. They did it so well.

So well. Got it down. So I hope they're doing that in Switzerland. Perfect environment. Did you, just so people get a bit of a personal insight, can you remember your own preparation for the quarter final? Because I don't think we changed anything. No, I don't think it changed.

I still think we were doing TikToks and crazy shit like that. I don't think we changed. No, I don't think it changed, but we went back to the AmEx again. So I think we had that bit of excitement again. We went back to that hotel, and there was just a lot of more familiarity with what we were doing, wasn't there?

I don't think it changed for us at all. I actually remember going to that game and Demi had packets of scampi fries. Do you remember that? I don't know. You know in pubs, did you get them little scampi fries? Demi had them and I was like, oh, here's a pack of them.

Well, literally the day before the game, like traveling down to the AmEx and I was like, just sat munching on a pack of scampi fries, Debbie had them and I was like, oh, give us a pack of them. Well, literally the day before the game, like traveling down to the AmEx and I was like, just sat munching on a pack of scampi fries. That just summed up how chilled everyone was. I know. But then when we set foot on the pitch, we were like animals.

I know. It's so weird when you actually like look back. It's so like nostalgic, but you think about things and you're like, didn't even think about that in the moment. Yeah, and then you look back at what we did. Like what am I doing eating scampi fries? I think you had some sweets.

Like I think like we were just just all like very nonchalant about our work with it. But then as soon as like game prep mode came, it was like tournament vision. I do remember journaling though in that five day period. I think when it was group stages, it was a little bit harder for us to. No, not much time.

Because you know what it's like when we journal. Like I have to be in the right head space to do it. Like I have to actually have energy to sit down and kind of open myself up to be like, I wanna put this down,, whether it's good or bad, because there's still things in tournaments where things will have annoyed me and I need to get it off my chest, but I don't want to say it to anyone, so I journal it. But I do remember journaling a lot more in that five days and just like analysing the group stage, things that did well, how it felt, how I was feeling about going into the quarterfinals, playing against Spain,

everyone kind of talking about Spain, and England have got Spain, but we were like, yeah, it's England versus Spain. I think that's like, we spoke, I remember speaking about that with you at the time, because it was like, oh, we've done so well in the group games, but like, we could go home. It is, it's a harsh reality of like,

you're through or you're not. Yeah, like we've done so well in the group stages, like everyone's like, oh, they're doing so well, and then it's like, we could literally go home. And we said that before every game, didn't we? We were like, we could go home tonight. Like we're not going to, but we would stay. I think that was a bad thing though,

because I think you lay it out of what you can achieve. We were all like, none of us were like, all of us wanted to stay. And I think that's another thing, that we were all just like, oh girls, I'm not going home tonight. Like I'm not ready to leave everyone. Yeah, we were like, we'll be depressed, we're not going.

Yeah. I tell you what we did do. I think it was me, you, Meedo and Ellen, the sticker book. Oh shit, we did do the sticker book. The Euros, women's Euros sticker book. I've still got those, you know. Yeah, collected all the stickers, didn't we? I think I've got a completed one.

I think we all completed it and we were swapping every day. We were swapping them stickers. Yeah, with that little tin full of stickers like they're like swapsies, like keep them to one side stickers. We got a little tin full of stickers like there, like swaps like keep them to one side. Me too, I had a pile of that. You've been buying them, little sets for you on the corner. She's sharing off.

She could have filled out about three books with the amount of stickers she had. But we did complete the books, that was sick. We were like, buy the end of it, we've got to complete it. I know, that was like our little hobby in the afternoon, wasn't it? Right then, let's take a quick break and then we'll come back and discuss the game against Spain.

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Download Tinder today. Welcome back to the Restless Football Daily Brightness. We are gonna be talking about the quarterfinal against Spain. What a game. Yeah, that was a game. The night before the game, we went back to the same hotel, didn't we? So we had a nice time there and then everything was quite same-same. But I think there was a little bit, maybe a little bit more nervy going into that one because we were all a bit like knockout, like we said before, knockout.

There's everything to play for now, isn't it? Yeah, Spain are flying in. They've had a good round and I think when you get out there against Spain, it's always, always a tough game, no matter what, no matter when, friendly. Spain are flying in, they've had a good round. I think when you get out there against Spain, it's always, always a tough game, no matter what, no matter when, friendly. The routine didn't change though. Like morning of the game, everything stayed the same.

We had our music on, we had our little get ready dancers, and then coach journey to the game. Nothing changed, and I think that's, again, for me, personally, consistency is so important. Like on game days, tournaments, like keeping the same routine is like, don't do anything different. It's invaluable.

No matter what you're playing, we didn't change anything. And although you could sense a little bit more, like it felt like there was more to play for almost. So maybe that's where the nerves came in, but I still don't think it kind of like filtered into the group. I think you could just tell like,

if you needed to give someone a little arm around the shoulder, like you're ready to go, like a little bit of positive, then we knew we needed to do that equally some just need to be left alone Listen to the music we were very good at reading each other Yeah, but still felt really confident like going into this game If anything like said like thriving like I feel like maybe on the outside everyone was still like Yeah, England have got Spain Okay, cool that bring it on, let's go. Exactly.

And that game was intense, wasn't it? Really intense. You have to be switched on, start to finish. Mentally, you have to be like, you know what, normally there's a break and you get the crowd going, no. It was just like, eyes on the prize. You cannot switch off against that sort of team.

They are incredible. And it was the worst game of my life, performance-wise. I remember Del Castillo coming on and she might as well have got my shorts, pulled them down, spun me around and then said, sit on the floor for a minute while I go past you. And that is exactly what she did. Pulled my pants down bestie. Do you remember that? I was like, I've never been so embarrassed. This is where in the moment where I was like, you're not a full back.

No, but this is the moment where I thought, holy shit, there's a lot more to defending than what I thought there was because I've relied on my athleticism for my whole career in that position. We spoke the whole tournament and I was like, bloody hell, Rach, you've done well at left back. You've hardly played there. Obviously, you've played there a lot,

but to do it against some of the best players. In a major tournament. Yeah, and you were playing sick every game. I'm not gonna lie, the clip did come up. Oh, God, I see it all the time. You nearly got whiplash, I forgot that. It wasn't even whiplash, I think like, honestly, I've never been so embarrassed, but I thought to myself,

oh, I don't think I can do this position anymore. You actually started to question yourself. She come on, she did all this little fancy footwork, and then megged me, and put me on my ass, and I was like, right, do you know what, credit where credit's due, what, that was unbelievable, but also that was the moment where reality sank in and I was like, don't know.

Don't know if I'm a defender. Don't know if I'm a defender, don't know if I can do this. And I remember speaking to you after the game, didn't I? And I was like, obviously absolutely over the moon that we'd won. I remember, it might have been the next day, I sat down with you at breakfast and I was like, oh, bestie, I had a really bad game last night.

I was just like, whatever you do, just don't read into it. Yeah, let it go, let it go. Just let it go, let it go. I had to properly reassure you. I think it's worse when it's like, a position that you're not 100% comfortable with. Like if I was playing up front

and I didn't have a good game, like, rate's up as shit. Yeah. But I was like reading into everything, like, oh, I can't do it, like, oh, everyone's gonna think I'm shit, but no. So that was my own performance, but obviously they scored first,

which was the first time we'd conceded, the first time we'd gone one low down. So that was like- I think we did speak about that as well, like scenarios, like how would we deal with it? Because we'd had such a good run, we'd not experienced like a lot of things. And I remember the media,

they were asking those sorts of questions, like, oh, you've not conceded yet, how do you think you'll cope if you do? We just, we have a plan and we'll execute it. The aim is obviously not to concede, but equally it's part of football, and our mentality was just like, if it does, then we'll get back on track and we'll get another goal.

I think because when we conceded, the weird thing for me was like, I never, ever, ever thought we were going to lose again. I've never had that before, but I genuinely had that like feeling in my gut where I was like, we're not going to lose this game. There's no panic. No, but I remember being on the bench,

I'd come off and I was with Ellen and I think I was on the pitch for when Toonie scored. And then I think I had to come off, I think. And then I remember being like, oh God, this can't go to extra time. Like the girls are going to be on their ass. Like it was a hard game. I remember being on, oh god, this can't go to extra time. The girls are gonna be on their arse. It was a hard game. I remember being on the bench with Ellen

and she was gripping my thigh so tightly. I was like, ow. But we were just so like, oh my god, don't go, pens. Let's get through this. It's already been a long night. The girls are gonna be knackered. And I say that ball just fell to G's feet. You know that's going in.

You know that's flying in. You were just watching it behind, I was like, keep driving, keep driving, get closer, get closer. She was going and going, I was like, don't keep going, hit it, hit it, hit it. That's what we were doing, we were like, don't take another touch, don't, but then you just, I just knew, like, as soon as she was driving

and driving and driving, and that last touch out of her feet was like, bang, that's going in. Well, thank God, Toonie scored to take us two extra time, and then I was like, even when it went extra time, I was like, okay, we're fit, like we're ready. We're ready to take on this. Like you said, we were just like constant. No, like no fear whatsoever.

It was such a good game though. It's like the ending of that game was like, it was a bit of a sigh of relief because we were like, right, we're through. Yeah, 100%. And that was a really taxing game. But equally, it was like, we're just expected to win. Like it was like, that was the feeling.

It was like, we're not gonna lose. I think that was a massive confidence booster beating a team like Spain. 100%. And like first time we conceded in the tournament. First time going to extra time. Exactly, there was a lot of firsts wasn't there. And I think we ticked a lot off ready for like the semis. Which you know now, once you get through the knockout,

like the quarters, it only gets harder and harder. Yeah, for sure. The further you get, the harder they get. You know, a little bit of fatigue sets in. You've got to keep your mind on the game in front of you. Stop looking at the final. We have to keep everything in check. But again, I think it's stuff like that

what did make us win the tournament. We only ever looked at the team in front of us and the game in front of us. And there's no point looking at the final because it's not made it there yet. And we kept reminding ourselves it's not worth anything unless we get there. So all this hard work is just gonna go to shit basically

if we don't make the final. So don't like stop now, don't stop doing the right things. And I remember we constantly like reminded each other of that. Do your recovery properly, eat properly. If you're too tired, see family, don't see them. Like take a break. And actually, when did it get to that stage? Because it was still a little bit of COVID.

And we made a decision that we weren't going to have any more. No, that was then because Hannah got COVID before the Spain game. She didn't travel to the Spain game. So we stopped having family days, didn't we? Yeah, it was just, so we'd have the family day after the Northern Ireland game. And then after that, we decided we've literally, how many days was it? I think when Serena said to us, you've got like 10 days to change your life. And then we all made a decision that, all right, nothing gets in the bubble,

nothing gets out. It's the same for kind of family days. So then we stopped having them, and we was like, right, 10 days to change our lives. And we found that hard, I remember, we were like, so it was a release, wasn't it? Like, your family day. But equally, we were all just on the same page,

where it's like, nah. Like, you know. But it was hard, I remember some players really needed family days, like, you know, you weren't playing a lot of minutes, you weren't starting, you might not have played at all. And that family day was like your way of like resetting to be able to give back to the team.

So it was like, it could have gone either way to be honest. Like it could have been good, could have been a shit. But yeah, it was, but I absolutely loved that game. I just think it was so good. Loved it. Loved it. I might have had the worst game of my career best team, but you had your best one.

One of your best ones, you got player of the match in that game. That must have been sick. Yeah, it was sick, but you know me, I hate individual stuff like that. Yeah, I know, but like, you're literally against Spain. Like you need to be defensively like sound, which is what you were.

And getting through into the semi-final and you get a player of the match, which I find centre backs don't always get very often. So it is quite like an honour. I think when you do get it as a centre back, it's really, really special because like you said, defenders kind of do get overlooked in that sort of like thing.

But for me, I was just, I didn't really take it into last of the tournament, you know, that I actually got to play the match like in a major tournament. Oh, I didn't, I was gassed. Cause I was just like, oh my God, shit, we're in the semi-finals, like we've just won, we've just beat Spain, we've just come back from behind,

like we've got extra time. I just remember us getting like a lot of pressure from the outside and I was just so drilled into like, almost like, I went into like protecting mode and I was like, I'm going to do everything, I can do every single game. And it was just, yeah, I was buzzing, not going to lie, it just gives you that little bit of a boost, little bit of confidence. Yeah, definitely. I was just more over the moon that we'd got into the semis to be honest and we'd beat Spain because there was so much chat about it. Yeah it was really good. Keep shining boo.

Keep shining boo. But on that note that's all we've got time for today guys. Next time you will hear us talking about the semi-finals. Goodbye from me or bye from me.