England Women star Lucy Bronze, who was more than ready to earn another international cap on Tuesday night, was prevented from entering the fray in Sarina Wiegman’s side’s friendly against Switzerland for a bizarre reason.
It took the Lionesses just eight minutes to gain a foothold of their Bramall Lane-based encounter with Manchester United’s Grace Clinton, who worked well to be in the right place to break the deadlock in Sheffield.
Concluding their final game of 2024 with a 1-0 victory, Wiegman’s experimental XI saw plenty of first-choice names introduced onto the field of play as the clock trickled towards the final whistle and Switzerland grew into proceedings.
The likes of Arsenal ace Beth Mead, midfield maestro Kieran Walsh and their reliable source of goals in Alessio Russo were all named on the substitutes' bench for their latest international clash against Pia Sundhage’s La Nati.
Russo and Mead were both introduced in the second half, as were Georgia Stanway, Jess Carter and the like, as the 2022 winners of the Women's European Championships attempted to hold onto the narrow lead.
Bronze, who has in excess of 100 international caps to her name since making her debut in 2013, was also readied up by Wiegman and her entourage in the final 10 minutes – but was quickly stopped by officials.
In the 83rd minute, the Chelsea full-back could be seen lining up along the Bramall Lane touchline, ready to come and make an impact on proceedings late on, but quickly returned to her place on the substitutes bench after being told that she would not be coming on.
What happened was Bronze, regarded as one of the greatest British women’s players in football history, wasn't initially listed as an official part of the squad, by virtue of UEFA’s regulations, allowing her on the pitch would be against the rules. The commentator, as heard above, gave an explanation.
"England wanted to bring Lucy Bronze on. She is in there would you believe, but you can see they're being told she cannot come onto the field because she isn't on the official team sheet tonight as a substitute."
He continued: "Clearly, England meant for her to be on that list but someone forgot to type it out." The co-commentator then jovially said: "You definitely wouldn't want to be the one responisble for that."
Wiegman, who has been praised for transforming the Lionesses’ fortunes, spoke in her post-match interview about the incident. She said: “That was a moment where she was not on the list. There had been a mistake.
“Unfortunately, it was a human mistake, and we found out then. We still wanted to bring her on the pitch but unfortunately she should not go so that was really frustrating and, of course, the most for herself but we couldn’t change it.”