The offensive festival of the English on Tuesday in Scotland (6-0) was not enough to take first place in the group from the Netherlands, who qualified for the semi-finals of the Nations League thanks to a better goal difference, and therefore still in the running for the 2024 Olympics.
The Dutch clinched qualification for the final tournament of the Nations League in a suspense against Belgium (4-0), where they will try in February to secure a ticket to the Paris Olympic Games against Germany, Spain, or France, who qualified automatically.
The hope of a British qualification (a selection of English, Welsh, Scottish and Northern Irish players), placed in the hands of the England team, vanished in Scotland, where the “Lionesses” needed to win by scoring three more goals than the Netherlands.
At Hampden Park, the European champions and World Cup runners-up thought they had done enough by sealing a resounding victory with a late goal from Lucy Bronze in stoppage time (90th+3, 6-0), two minutes after a decisive save by their goalkeeper Mary Earps.
But the Dutch, with the same number of points (12 points in six matches), retained their top spot by also scoring two goals in stoppage time, through Lyon midfielder Damaris Egurrola (90th+1, 90th+5).
In the end, qualification hinged on a single goal. The devastated English learned of their fate on the pitch in Glasgow after nervously waiting for the other match to end in Tilbourg. There will therefore be no British selection in the next Olympic football tournament. The English Under-21s secured qualification by winning the European Under-21 Championship last summer, but no agreement was reached with the Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish federations.
