Lady Luck doesn't exist. It's pluck and preparation
England aren't accidental tourists in Switzerland
Whenever I’m interviewing footballers, and they start talking about luck, I always interrupt. Politely, of course, but I’m just not having this luck lark. I don’t believe elite sports men and women can truly have careers shaped by luck. Mentioning luck during interviews is either modesty or false modesty. Successful footballers have trained hard for these moments perceived as serendipitous. It’s not luck, it’s work.
It’s the same with the Lionesses, who scrambled another victory, 2-1 in extra time over Italy, to stay in the European Championship finals out in Switzerland. England are not playing well, and will need to raise their game in Sunday’s final against either silky Spain or steely Germany. People make comments about “Lady Luck”, “their luck will run out” and that Sarina Wiegman was “lucky” her substitutions paid off when the rest of us were screaming at our TVs pleading with her to make the changes earlier.
Shortly after, we’re celebrating Wiegman’s “inspired substitutions”. That’s not luck, that’s experience and knowledge. Wiegman would know from her analysts which players were tiring, in the “red zone”, and know from training which players would come on and have the most impact. It wasn’t chance that allowed Michelle Agyemang to come off the bench and score.