Chloe Kelly’s full bladder inspired England penalty heroics

Pro athletes, they’re just like the rest of us!

Chloe Kelly said she had a little extra motivation to make her spot kick in England’s penalty shootout win over Nigeria last week.

In addition to her desire to clinch a spot in the World Cup quarterfinals, Kelly simply needed to get into the locker room as soon as possible.

“I just really needed to wee,” Kelly told England’s social media channels.

After a 0-0 draw over 120 minutes, England took a 3-2 lead in a penalty shootout. Up stepped Kelly as England’s fifth taker. If she scored, a place in the quarterfinal (and the bathroom) beckoned. If she missed, Nigeria could send the shootout into sudden death with a converted spot kick.

The result? A shot faster than any male or female scored in England’s top flight all of last season. The Lionesses can only hope that if Kelly has a penalty in Sunday’s World Cup final against Spain, her bladder will be similarly full.

“To be honest, me and Beth [England] were in the lineup for the penalty shootout and I just really needed to wee, so that was all I was thinking about,” the Man City striker said.

“I really needed to wee and I was like, ‘I’ll just step up and it’ll be done.’ That was it and we had doping after and I was just like, ‘Yes, I need a wee!'”

Pro athletes, they’re just like the rest of us! (except way better at sports.)

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Chloe Kelly, Brandi Chastain swap shirts after USWNT vs. England

After Kelly’s iconic celebrations at Euro 2022, it had to happen

As the subjects of two truly iconic images in women’s soccer history, Chloe Kelly and Brandi Chastain had to get together for the perfect salute.

Following the U.S. women’s national team’s 2-1 loss to England, Kelly and Chastain — whose celebrations of scoring in the finals of Euro 2022 and the 1999 World Cup, respectively, are defining photos of those triumphant events — did the only thing that made sense: they swapped jerseys.

Kelly played all but the final seconds of England’s win, and not long after nearly 80,000 fans shuffled out of Wembley, she and Chastain met up on the touchline, and the USWNT legend was ready with a new kit carrying her name and the number six she wore for years.

Kelly said after the match that her inspiration was actually a completely different goal, citing Bobby Zamora’s strike for Queens Park Rangers in 2014, but the similarities between her celebration and Chastain’s were undeniable. Kelly scored a dramatic extra-time goal that eventually became the winner for England, capping off a summer where the Three Lionesses got center stage and seemed to capture the entire country’s attention.

(Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP)

Chastain ended up being a worldwide sensation after pulling her jersey off after netting the winning spot kick in the 1999 final, a moment that sparked massive growth in women’s soccer in the United States. There’s a distinct sense that England’s success could also function as an accelerant for the game in the UK.

Chastain had quickly recognized Kelly’s celebration, tweeting her congratulations and urging her to “enjoy all the free pints and dinners for the rest of your life.” Apparently that list of gifts also includes a USWNT jersey.

See Kelly and Chastain swap shirts

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Brandi Chastain congratulates Chloe Kelly on her shirt-removing Euro 2022 winner

Game recognize game

After Chloe Kelly scored the winning goal for England in Euro 2022, she emulated one of the game’s all-time iconic moments by removing her shirt to reveal her sports bra.

The originator of that move, former U.S. women’s national team star Brandi Chastain, couldn’t help but express her admiration for Kelly’s tribute.

Kelly scrambled home a 110th-minute winner against Germany at Wembley, clinching a 2-1 win for England as the Lionesses took home the European championship on home soil.

A jubilant Kelly ran wildly around the pitch after scoring, removing her shirt and twirling it around as she happily accepted the yellow card that automatically accompanied her celebration.

Chastain, who removed her shirt after scoring the winning penalty at the 1999 World Cup, took to Twitter to congratulate Kelly on her own iconic shirt-removing moment.

Chastain, like Kelly, saw her country lift a major trophy on home soil, as she netted the final penalty in a shootout against China at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

Lacy Atkins/The San Francisco Examiner via AP

Twenty-three years later, the sport now has a worthy successor to one of its most indelible moments.

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Heart of a Lioness! England makes history with fairytale Euro 2022 win on home soil

After decades of heartache, football is home

England had seen this script before.

After Ella Toone’s remarkable second-half opener sent Wembley into raptures, the air was sucked out of the building when Lina Magull equalized with just over 10 minutes to go in the Euro 2022 final.

Suddenly, history began to get rather heavy.

Germany had reached the UEFA Women’s Championship final eight times before and won all eight. England had reached the final twice, and lost both.

England hadn’t won a major trophy, men’s or women’s, since 1966.

But this Lioness team was determined to not let history bring them down. Chloe Kelly scrambled home a winner from a corner kick in extra time, giving England a 2-1 win and a history-making European title that will reverberate for generations.

The game put a cap on a Euro 2022 that should boost the profile of women’s soccer worldwide – and especially in Europe. 87,192 fans packed Wembley for the final, the largest crowd to ever see a women’s match in the UK and the biggest attendance ever for any Euros game, men or women.

As for the match itself, it contained some of the less desirable elements that so often characterize major finals: tired legs, crunching challenges, heavy touches and disjointed passages of play. For two teams who have played some beautiful stuff throughout Euro 2022, the game was hardly chock full of magic moments.

But after 62 minutes, there was indeed a moment of magic from the Lionesses. Keira Walsh picked out a perfectly weighted long ball that found Toone, who displayed almost superhuman composure to dink the ball over Merle Frohms into the back of the net.

It was a goal worthy of winning any final, but especially this one in front of a record home crowd. But Germany was never going to play the role of magnanimous pushover.

The visitors came roaring back, with Magull’s equalizer no less than Germany deserved. The air was truly out of the building as England had to hold on to simply reach extra time.

But that’s where the history changed, and a new era began. Kelly’s goal was no less than England, the team and the country deserved, after a tournament that will be remembered for far more than the on-field play.

Football is home. And the world of football will be all the better for it.

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