Steph Houghton admits it was difficult to watch Euro 2022

Former England captain Steph Houghton has admitted that she discovered it arduous to watch Euro 2022 throughout the summer season after lacking out on a spot within the closing Lionesses squad.

Houghton has been an England worldwide since 2007 and led the group as captain to semi-finals at main tournaments in 2015, 2017 and 2019. But she missed most of final season by way of harm and was racing towards the clock to be slot in time for the landmark event on residence soil.

During her prolonged absence, Houghton additionally noticed the England captaincy handed to Leah Williamson, a change that was made everlasting by supervisor Sarina Wiegman in April.

There was nonetheless an opportunity that the veteran might have made the squad anyway, and he or she notably discovered help within the press. Yet even after being named on the preliminary listing, Houghton didn’t make the lower for the ultimate 23-player squad and was compelled to watch an historic summer season from afar.

Giving her story for The Players’ Tribune, Houghton stated that dropping the England captaincy was the ‘hardest’ facet of being sidelined – she had first obtained the armband in 2014.

“When Sarina announced her pick for the new England captain in April, I was happy for Leah and I fully respected the decision,” Houghton defined.

“But that was one of the hardest parts of the injury, if not the hardest. You give everything to something and it’s taken away from you, without you being able to show what you can do.”

She went on to add: “Of course I watched the final, I couldn’t miss it. But to be totally honest, throughout the Euros, I found it difficult to watch the games. I was so desperate to be there that when I wasn’t selected, I wasn’t sure how good it was for me mentally to watch the tournament.

“I was so frustrated because I felt like I had so little closure. The whole thing just felt strange.”

Houghton revealed she still kept in contact with the squad before each game, the same as she would have done as captain, and was delighted to see them go on to lift the trophy – England’s first ever silverware at a senior women’s tournament – but described the situation as ‘bittersweet’.

Read Steph Houghton’s full piece for The Players’ Tribune – ‘What It Takes’ – here.