"Is this England team ready to go out there and make history?’ was the question put to head coach Sarina Wiegman on the eve of the Lionesses’ Women’s Euro semi-final with Sweden.
“The England team is ready to play their best game against Sweden,” she responded, before – tongue-in-cheek – deciding her answer wasn’t finished.
“And hopefully,” she added, “we inspire the nation.” It was said with a smile, a giggle at herself almost.
England is often cited as one of the nations most advanced in the women’s game, with its professional league, landmark broadcast deal and top investment from top clubs.
But press conferences will still be flooded with question after question about inspiring a nation and the next generation.
Even ahead of the Lionesses' fourth successive major tournament semi-final, you will see the main talking points in some papers being about how the women’s game is great because they don’t dive like their male counterparts.
However, on Tuesday night, England sealed their place in the 2022 UEFA Women’s Euro final with a scintillating 4-0 win over Sweden.
It’s the women’s team’s first major tournament final since Euro 2009 and it felt like the watershed moment the country needs to put the pandering to bed, to stop patronising and talking about anything but the quality of the football produced.
After all, what Wiegman’s side have done at this tournament has been sensational.
After a shaky start to the tournament in a nervy opening win over Austria, they took on a fancied Norway – a team with Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg and Caroline Graham Hansen, Barcelona’s electric winger, in their squad.
Victory over Northern Ireland, by five goals to nil, followed, before a quarter-final with Spain in which they came through in extra time. That one required grit, character and real dogged mentality.
The win over Sweden combined everything. The Scandinavians started better, they pressed well, they got in behind, they created chances. But England rode it out and their response was emphatic.
Beth Mead’s superb touch, turn and finish kicked things off. Suddenly, the Lionesses hit their stride. Lucy Bronze scored a header. Then, Alessia Russo did something that it’d be impossible to patronise.
Having seen her initial shot saved by Hedvig Lindahl, she picked up the rebound on the right hand side of the box, with her back to goal.
If you blinked, you missed it, as she arrowed a backheel flick through the legs of the goalkeeper. No matter what goals follow in the two games that remain in this tournament, that will be the pick of them all.
When Fran Kirby lifted the ball over Lindahl from range a few minutes later, it made it 20 goals in five games, with one conceded.
Sweden are not a poor team, either. They were the team many tipped to win this tournament. They were the silver medal winners at the Olympics last summer – losing only on penalties after being outstanding in Japan. Three years ago, they beat England to third place in the World Cup.
While the defending for some of the goals in Sheffield on Tuesday night could’ve been better, they didn’t perform particularly badly either.
Yet, England would deal them their first defeat in 90 minutes of football since March 2020 on their way to a major tournament final.
After three successive semi-final defeats, this was them over the line. Millie Bright, the England centre-back, said those memories had been “parked to one side”. You could tell. They looked calm, even when they were under pressure. They looked ready to take this step.
On Sunday, they will face either Germany or France for what would be this team’s first ever major title. It’ll be at Wembley Stadium, the country’s iconic ground.
And, as the chants of ‘It’s coming home’ around Bramall Lane showed, this nation believes it will be an evening of celebration, not yet more heartbreak to add to an ever-growing list harboured by every England football fan.
‘We’re going to win it, aren’t we?’ said a waitress in a restaurant near the ground in Sheffield where England would make history. There’s no need to pander to the masses anymore. An entire nation has already embraced this team, and this sport.
Wiegman's Lionesses are the pride of England right now.