England’s Mary Earps has revealed the public high of winning Euro 2022 and being named FIFA women’s goalkeeper of the year resulted in an unwelcome private battle to “feel human again”.
The Manchester United keeper, set to start in the Lionesses’ World Cup opener against Haiti on Saturday, has cemented her place as England’s number one since the arrival of boss Sarina Wiegman, whom Earps often credits for reigniting a career she once thought had ground to a halt.
Though the 30-year-old loved “experiencing almost how the Kardashians live” at FIFAs swanky February awards ceremony in Paris, she was surprised by the corresponding lows in the aftermath.
Earps, speaking from England’s team hotel in Brisbane, said: “I was speaking with Micah Richards and Jamie Carragher, and we were talking about the difference between winning a tournament and then having a disappointing tournament and how different it’s to come back from that. And I was saying for me personally, I felt like that was the hardest thing I ever did.
“Okay, that’s an exaggeration. Not the hardest thing I ever did, but it was the hardest footballing thing to come back to.
“Like you’ve been on this massive high for so long and then you come back to normal life where you are not in this bubble, you’re not living in this little world, you’re not surrounded by people.
“And it’s absolutely a life of privilege, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a lot to adjust to coming back and going back to training every day.
“Not at that intensity, not at that pressure, but also with that comes an incredible adrenaline rush. And not having that every day, it was hard to find your feet as to what normal felt like. And it probably took me till after December to feel human again.
“And then obviously the FIFA Best came and I felt like I had to start all over again.
“It’s a privilege to be in that situation and a problem that I would love to have every single year, but it was definitely hard to adjust.”
England vice-captain Earps may need to repeat that process again should the Lionesses, among the tournament favourites, lift the trophy that has eluded them in five previous World Cup appearances.
At the beginning of 2021, Earps was on the verge of quitting football altogether. Her contract at United was coming to an end and she had not featured for England since November 2019.
Yet Wiegman saw something in Earps when she took the reins in September 2021 and recalled the Nottingham native and 2019 World Cup veteran as part of her first selected squad, handing her a fresh start in England’s 8-0 victory over North Macedonia to begin the World Cup qualifiers.
Earps, who was also offered a new deal with United, has seized the opportunity with both gloves ever since and was instrumental in ensuring four of the Lionesses’ six matches in their unbeaten run to lift the Euro 2022 trophy were clean-sheet victories.
Perhaps Earps’ path is most aptly illustrated by her journey to and from the FIFA awards, where she had a personal security guard named Johnny and the “surreal” experience of discussing the finer points of goalkeeping with Argentinian World Cup winner Emiliano Martinez and Arsene Wenger.
Earps took EasyJet on the way there, but flew business class on the way back, where she was closer to the front than she had ever been in her life.
Yet before the Golden Gloves, the first-class keeper was determined to elevate England to new heights.
She added: “I always thought it was there. I didn’t think that it would burn as deeply as it’s burning. It’s like a fire in your belly that I’ve always had. But I think you’re always trying to achieve things that you don’t know if it’s going to be possible.
“You’re like, that’s what you’re striving for, you’re striving for this excellence and you’re constantly on this pursuit of, ‘How far can I go? How high can I go?’
“And to actually achieve those things just makes me want to fill my cabinet with even more trophies and medals really. It doesn’t make me feel like, ‘Job done’, which I thought that it would. It makes me just want to do more, do better.”
Hurtig the hero after late goal sends Arsenal into Champions League quarters
Lina Hurtig's 89th minute winner ensured Arsenal progressed to the quarter-finals of the Women's Champions League after edging Juventus 1-0 on Thursday.
After being frustrated for large parts of the encounter, Hurtig bundled home from close range after Martina Lenzini's poor clearance to book the Gunners' place in the last eight.
Despite Arsenal dominating the early exchanges, it was Juventus who had the first sight of goal, though Eva Schatzer's effort was easy for Daphne van Domselaar to gather.
In a first half that saw just two shots on target, both coming from the visitors, Renee Slegers' substitutes proved to be the difference for Arsenal.
Slegers introduced Beth Mead, Stina Blackstenius and Hurtig late on, with the latter somehow putting Kim Little's cross over the bar from five yards out.
However, the Swede would atone for her earlier error, combining with fellow substitute Blackstenius to net against her former club and send them out of the competition with two group games remaining.
Meanwhile, in Group D, Barcelona edged closer to the quarter-finals of the competition with a convincing 4-1 victory over St. Polten at the Generali Arena.
The reigning champions are still three points behind Manchester City following their 2-1 win over Hammarby, and know a win against the Swedes next month will see them progress.
Kika Nazareth opened the scoring in the 20th minute after capitalising on a mistake by Kamila Dubcova, notching her second nine minutes later from close range.
Barca found themselves three goals up at the break when Vicky Lopez netted her first goal in the competition to put the result beyond doubt.
There was also a landmark moment for Alexia Putellas, who netted her 200th goal for the club with a well-taken effort into the far corner.
Valentina Madl took some of the shine off an otherwise impressive display from the visitors, who have now taken their tally to 20 goals from their four matches in the competition.
Guardiola agrees two-year contract extension with Man City
Pep Guardiola will be Manchester City manager for at least two more seasons after 2024-25, after he signed a two-year contract extension on Thursday.
The 53-year-old was coming to the end of his City deal, which was due to expire at the end of the current campaign, but he has opted to remain at the Etihad Stadium.
The deal itself will take Guardiola's tenure at the club to over a decade, making him City's longest-serving manager since Les McDowall in 1963.
There had been suggestions that he may leave at the end of the season following the announcement that director of football Txiki Begiristain was on his way out.
Guardiola was strongly linked with the England job after Gareth Southgate resigned in the wake of their Euro 2024 final defeat, but the Football Association appointed Thomas Tuchel last month.
“Manchester City means so much to me," Guardiola said. “This is my ninth season here; we have experienced so many amazing times together. I have a really special feeling for this football club.
“That is why I am so happy to be staying for another two more seasons.
“Thank you to everyone for continuing to trust and support me – The Owner, The Chairman Khaldoon, Ferran, Txiki, the players and, of course, the fans… everyone connected to Manchester City. It has always been an honour, a pleasure and a privilege to be here.
“I have said this many times before, but I have everything a manager could ever wish for, and I appreciate that so much.
“Hopefully, now we can add more trophies to the ones we have already won. That will be my focus.”
Having been appointed in 2016, Guardiola is by some distance Manchester City's most successful manager of all time, having won 18 major trophies during his time at the club.
That list includes their first-ever Champions League triumph in 2023 and six Premier League titles, including an unprecedented four on the spin.
He also boasts a 72.04% win percentage across all competitions, which is unsurprisingly the highest of any full-time City manager in history.
Shaw at the double as Man City progress in Champions League
Khadija Shaw scored twice as Manchester City beat Hammarby 2-1 to seal their place in the Women's Champions League quarter-finals.
Gareth Taylor's team entered Thursday's game with a perfect record in Group D, and their fourth win in as many European matches ensured they finished in the top two.
Shaw—the leading scorer in the Women's Super League this season with eight goals—put them ahead in the 31st minute, driving into the area after taking in Yui Hasegawa's pass before seeing her shot deflect into the top corner.
Shaw was booked for celebrating in front of the home fans despite appearing to have objects thrown at her from the stands, and Hammarby should have levelled when Julia Blakstad fired wide 10 minutes later.
The hosts did draw level three minutes into the second half as Ellen Wangerheim tapped home while City's Laura Blindkilde Brown was down appealing for a free-kick.
That parity was short-lived, though, as Shaw blasted into the top corner from 25 yards out, taking her overall tally for this season to 12 goals in all competitions.
In Group C, meanwhile, Bayern Munich lost their perfect record as they played out a 1-1 draw with Valerenga, boosting Arsenal's hopes of topping the pile.
Jovana Damnjanovic came off the bench to put Bayern ahead 15 minutes from time in Norway, but Elise Thorsnes headed home following an 88th-minute corner to snatch a point for the hosts.
Arsenal could now move within a point of Bayern when they face Juventus in Group C's other match later on Thursday.
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