Bright vows 'heartbroken' England will bounce back

Heartbroken England captain Millie Bright vowed the Lionesses would bounce back from their World Cup final defeat.

Olga Carmona’s first-half strike earned Spain a 1-0 victory in the final in Sydney as Sarina Wiegman’s side were denied a first World Cup triumph a year after their maiden European Championship success.

But Bright, who captained the side during the tournament in the absence of Leah Williamson, does not think this is the end of the story for this team.

She told ITV: “(There’s a) huge amount of disappointment. At first you feel you failed cos you’ve not won, but to finish second I think in a couple of weeks when we settle down we’ll be really, really proud.

“This is not it from us, well bounce back I’m sure, but for now it’s hard to take.”

England hit the bar through Lauren Hemp in the first period while goalkeeper Mary Earps saved a second-half Jennifer Hermoso penalty to keep hopes alive, but Spain held on to lift their first world title.

Bright added to the BBC: “We gave everything. We can say hand on heart we gave everything.

“In the first half we weren’t at our best. Second half we bounced back, showed our fight, showed our character and we had chances, we just didn’t have that final edge today.

“We’ve been 1-0 down in a game before and we bounced back and that was the aim today. We never give in and it’s hard to take but it’s football. We’re absolutely heartbroken. Unfortunately we just weren’t there today.”

Wiegman told ITV she had no regrets despite defeat.

She said: “Most of all I feel disappointment, because when you play a final you want to win it. So that is mainly how I feel. Spain played a little better than we did.

“We gave everything. The opponent was very strong. We changed it at half-time and then we got momentum and I thought now we would get back in the game.

““The momentum went out of the game with the penalty, which took forever, and the injury of Alex (Greenwood). That was at a stage when I thought they were struggling with us.

“At the end, when we tried to force it, we did not execute very well.

“No regrets. We gave it everything we could. We tried different tactics. You have to give credit to Spain. Over the tournament they played the best football, so congratulations to Spain.

“Absolutely (we feel pride), it does not feel that way now. But when you see how many challenges we have had before the tournament and in the tournament, how we picked up and took every challenge. No regrets.”

Former England midfielder Karen Carney believes the impact of England’s tournament will be felt for a long time to come.

Carney told ITV: “As a little girl, all you ever wanted to do was play in a World Cup final and these girls have done this.

“They have been incredible and the conversations of tomorrow will be about women’s football. When I was growing up, this would not have happened.

“Okay, we have not got the gold medal and we are devastated, but what that team has done is put women’s football again on the map.”

Former England winger Eni Eluko added: “I’m devastated for the players.

“Absolutely gutted for them, gutted for Sarina. They gave it everything, what an amazing England team, absolutely everything but it was not enough.”