As the clock ticked into the 81st minute, the score on the board at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium remained a surprise: England 1-0 Haiti. The European champions had certainly not had it all their own way in their Women’s World Cup opener and it wasn’t won yet, either. Their opponents, one of eight debutantes at the tournament, were pushing until the end, and when substitute Roseline Eloissaint burst into the box, they had a glorious chance to score an historic equaliser. That was until Mary Earps intervened.
The England goalkeeper had very little to do on the night. There was a fierce shot from Lyon teenager Melchie Dumornay that stung her palms early in the second period, but otherwise she was a bystander, Haiti’s promising attacks rarely turning into worrying shots on target. That made her late stop to deny Eloissaint with an outstretched leg all the more impressive.
“That’s why she’s No.1. That’s why she’s FIFA’s Best,” team-mate Georgia Stanway said afterwards, referring to the individual award Earps scooped up in February. “She’s the best for a reason and moments like that explain why.”
A European champion with her country last summer, a stand-out performer in the Manchester United side that secured Women’s Champions League football for the first time this year, and now set to be a key player in the Lionesses’ bid to win the Women’s World Cup, Earps’ importance cannot be overstated.
But it’s not always been like this for her with England…