We then headed back into the changing room and Sarina announced the starting eleven. In goal was Mary, in defence was Lucy, Millie, Lotte, and Demi, in midfield was me and Leah. Beth and Lauren were wingers with G, and Ellen in front. We all listened as Sarina spoke to us and then Leah gave us a talk as captain, before long it was time to line up. We all stood in the tunnel as the Belgium players lined up beside us, I stood with G in front of me and Lucy behind me. I quickly turned around and gave Lucy a quick kiss before intertwining our fingers in a pinky promise, just like we always did before a game. Then we all walked out together and the crowd roared. We all stood arms around each other as we listened to the Belgian anthem, then we sang our anthem. Once the anthems were over we shook hands with the Belgium players before heading into the pitch, we huddled together as Leah gave us some last minute motivation and then we all took our places. We took the knee in respect against racism and discrimination and then the whistle blew, the game had begun.
The first half went goalless as we set the tempo and pace. We had plenty of chances as we threatened the Belgian goalkeeper Evrard but no goals came out of them. At half time Sarina spoke to us to keep up the momentum. We all put our hands together and shouted "England on three; 1..2..3, England".
We all headed out back onto the pitch and Chloe came on for Beth. In the 62nd minute of the game Chloe banged in the opening goal, closely followed by Rachel who had come on scoring in the 66th minute. We all watched as Leah's shot rebounded off Evrard, but the Belgian defence were quick to snatch the ball away from the goal. We had another chance as Ellen forced Evrard to make a save at the far post. Three minutes later Hempo came speeding down the wing of the pitch, but the Belgian goalkeeper tipped the ball behind the net. 27 minutes left of the game G made a run to goal before selflessly giving the ball to Leah who stuck the ball, but it was unfortunate as it deflected behind for a corner. The corner was taken and Ellen tried to tap the ball in but Belgium blocked that goal from happening. In the 83rd minute Leah had another shot at goal and the ball went to the underside of the crossbar as Evrard directed the ball into the net. As the whistle blew to signal the end of the game, 9,598 fans in Wolverhampton roared as we beat the Belgian team 3-0.
As we did our lap around the pitch, Lucy ran over to the stands and helped Charlie clamber over the barrier, who immediately came running over to me and leaping into my arms, hugging me tightly before getting down and running over to Leah. I then looked back over to Lucy who was walking over to me with Elleã snuggled into her chest with her ear defenders still on. Once she spotted me Elleã reached out to me and I gently took her before Lucy told me, " mum was just telling me that throughout the match every time you had the ball Ellie would clap her hands and point you out to her and squeal mama", smiling. I just chuckled and lifted the toddler higher into my arms and gave her a kiss on her cheek, before we headed back over to the group. As we were walking around the pitch thanking the fans I walked up to Millie to congratulate her on her 50th cap, but just before I reached her I spoke to Elleã who was still in my arms, gently pulling her ear defenders off and said "when we reach Millie do you want to give her a hug because it's a special day for her", she looks up at me and enthusiastically nods her head. So once we reach Millie I nudge her and she turns around and Elleã immediately reaches over to her, Millie takes her and Elleã gives her big hug as I say, "we wanted to say congratulations on 50 caps", "aww, thanks Keira, and thank you Ellie", Millie replies back grinning before Ellie reaches back over to me and I take her from Millie. We all reached the tunnel and as I walked down the steps I felt a presence beside me and looked over to see Charlie walking slowly beside me. "Keira, I'm tired", she tells me, "well chasing G around the pitch will do that to you", I replied back chuckling. She just leaned into me and sighed. I wrapped my arms around her and we all walked into the changing room where people were chatting and singing.
Lucy grabbed a quick shower and then took Ellie from me so I could have a quick shower. Slowly others had a shower and we all started heading to the bus. I walked up the steps to the bus and went and sat down in the middle of the bus where there wouldn't be too much noise, with Charlie trailing slowly behind me and Ellie in my arms again. The rest of the team got on the bus and some of the louder ones like Millie, Rach and Jill in particular headed to the back of the bus while everyone else took their seats away from them. Lucy then got on the bus and walked over to me with Charlie's backpack in hand and put it above our heads and then nudged Charlie who had started to fall asleep, "hey, how bout I sit next to Kei this time", Charlie grumbled back "why can't you sit somewhere else I wanna sleep here", Lucy replied saying "I wanna sit next to Kei", I just chuckled at them arguing who sat next to me, before I leaned over and said to Charlie, "why don't you let mum sit down and then you can just sit down down on top of her, then you both can sit here", Charlie just mumbled something and moved off the seat while Lucy slipped into it before Charlie immediately having seen Lucy sit down, sat right back into her lap and snuggled into to her chest, quickly falling asleep. Lucy just smiled down at her before looking over at me "good idea" she whispered, combing her fingers through Charlie's hair. I looked down at Ellie who was fast asleep in my arms with a tight grip on my hoodie, well actually Lucy's hoodie but I had worn it enough times I considered it mine. I looked back over at Lucy and slowly leaned over before connecting my lips with hers and kissing her slowly, we both pulled away and I leaned my head on her shoulder and we stayed like that for the rest of the journey back to SGP.
