Fran Kirby hopes England semi-final brings joy amid cost-of-living crisis

Fran Kirby hopes that England can give the public some respite from the cost-of-living crisis and rising fuel prices as they prepare to face Sweden in the semi-finals of Euro 2022 on Tuesday.

The Lionesses play the highest-ranked European team in the tournament in a fourth major semi-final in a row and the public has rapidly woken up to the team’s exploitson home soil following the thrilling victory against Spain in the previous round.

“If we get the chance to win in the semi-final and get through to the final, I think it will be incredible for people in this country to have something to celebrate and enjoy,” Kirby said.

“As much as we want to win, we want to put a smile on people’s faces. They may be going through a hard time in terms of the rising fuel costs and the cost of living right now. Hopefully we can give people an escape for 90-plus minutes when they turn their TVs on, they will have something to cheer about and will see how passionately we play for this country. Hopefully it gives them a sense of pride and they can switch off from everything that is going on.”

Kirby set up Beth Mead for England’s winning goal in their opening match against Austria and scored in the 5-0 thrashing of Northern Ireland during the group stages but the Chelsea forward was replaced by Ella Toone in the quarter-final with Sarina Weigman’s side trailing 1-0. Toone’s late equaliser and a brilliant winning goal in extra-time from Georgia Stanway enabled the hosts to complete an emotional comeback in Brighton and Kirby said they are feeling the love of the public.

“It did not start at the beginning, but as the tournament has grown,” Kirby said. “I saw some amazing videos of people celebrating in Box Park and going crazy when we scored