When a minute is missing: A 19-year-old Englishwoman ends Italy's dream of reaching the European Championship final

Andrea Soncin behaved like Rumpelstiltskin on the sidelines during the match. Constantly in communication with the referees, cautioned at some point, and just on the verge of the greatest success of his coaching career, everything collapsed. "We were one minute short of the final," he said at the press conference at the Stade de Genève after midnight. The Italian national coach repeated the time unit several times, "un minuto," and again: "un minuto."

What happened? Something that English striker Chloe Kelly would later describe as "fantasy."

Leading 1-0 in the first European Championship semifinal against the seemingly unimaginative defending champions, the Italians defended skillfully and with a combined five-man defense. They cleared the ball away and played for time, prompting the referee to add seven minutes.

Seven minutes that turned into a nightmare for Soncin and his team, as a 19-year-old English player of Ghanaian descent finally found the net. A 19-year-old who didn't fit the average age of the evening. The English players on the pitch at the start were on average over 26, the Italians over 29.

But that ultimately doesn't matter, because the youngest player keeps the defending champion in the tournament, the newcomer born in 2006, who first came into contact with the big footballers as a ball girl at Wembley in 2021. Four years later, Michelle Agyemang is doing something "fantasy" in Switzerland, doing what she did in the quarterfinals against Sweden.

She runs onto the pitch, eleven minutes pass, and the ball is already in the net. Against Sweden, she equalized the score at 2-2 in the 81st minute, and against Italy, she equalized the score at 1-1 in the 96th minute, in stoppage time, sending England into extra time.

Wherever England is, there's drama. And Agyemang, who only hits the crossbar in the 117th minute, the very minute that represents the climax of this mediocre, but all the more thrilling semifinal. The evening in Geneva was heading for a penalty shootout when, in that very 117th minute, the referee pointed to the penalty spot after a challenge in the Italian penalty area. The Azzurre were one minute away from the final, and now they're a few minutes away from a penalty.

Soncin throws his arms above his head and later asks at the press conference: "Was that a penalty? I don't know." Chloe Kelly runs up – and is initially thwarted by Italian goalkeeper Laura Giuliani. But because the football goddess is definitely not Italian (anymore), Kelly gets the chance to shoot again – and scores late on to make it 2-1. Two substitutes turn the match around for England, which was thought to be lost, after which Kelly can sing the praises of the team and its solidarity in front of the media.

When Michelle Agyemang was substituted on in the quarter-final against Sweden, which she also thought was lost after being 2-0 down, Kelly told her on the bench: "Go out onto the pitch and be yourself. Go and wreak havoc. Go and clean up the game." That's what Agyemang told the BBC afterward.

No sooner said than done, and this happened twice over, as if it were a given for Agyemang, who claims to play piano, bass, and drums. She's made sure she can play the piano during the European Championships as well. She only just made the cut for the European Championship squad, but the nomination is paying off for England.

After her goal, Agyemang kneels on the turf of the Stade de Genève and prays to the night sky with her arms raised. The young footballer also talks to the BBC about her faith.

Last season, she was loaned to Brighton from Lia Wälti's Arsenal club; now she's poised to make a statement at the finals. And she's doing this despite only having three caps. When Chloe Kelly subsequently praised the team spirit and raved about all 23 players, Agyemang's performance was described as "incredible."

So close to elimination, then so close to the unpredictable penalty shootout – and then victory after all. The defending champions played far from their best match against Italy, but once again showed resilience and determination in moments when they had almost been written off. While Italy's greatest success in almost three decades evaporates, England is barely staying in the competition.

England's national coach, the Dutchwoman Sarina Wiegmann, will have the chance to win the European Championship for the third time in a row in Sunday's final at Basel's St. Jakob-Park. She achieved this with the Netherlands in 2017, with England in 2022—and in 2025? Perhaps Michelle Agyemang will have an inspiration on Sunday, perhaps there will be another "fantasy" game, perhaps Chloe Kelly will be needed again, who almost converted a corner kick just before her penalty in extra time against Italy.

Kelly, who already scored the decisive 2-1 goal in extra time against Germany in the 2022 European Championship final. It doesn't matter whether it's Agyemang or Kelly. The main thing is "fantasy," drama. And all of that only when (almost) no one believes in it anymore.