Watching back Michelle Agyemang’s England debut against Belgium in the UEFA Nations League on April 8 is an entirely different experience now than it was when I saw that match live. Looking back on it, I feel like I was watching a movie. Specifically, seeing that short flash of a scene at the start of the film, which you know is important, but you just don’t know yet how it all fits together. The kind that makes you say aloud, “Oh! I get it,” when the credits start to roll. And although the stor
Looking back on it, I feel like I was watching a movie. Specifically, seeing that short flash of a scene at the start of the film, which you know is important, but you just don’t know yet how it all fits together. The kind that makes you say aloud, “Oh! I get it,” when the credits start to roll.
And although the story is not yet over for England, who face Spain in the European Championship final on Sunday in Basel, the picture is becoming clear.
That April night in Leuven, 42 seconds into her first appearance for the senior national team, the 19-year-old scored to earn her ticket to Euro 2025. And head coach Sarina Wiegman became football’s Steven Spielberg — an instant foreshadowing expert.
England are in this final because of Wiegman’s tactics; her ability to shift formation in the final phase of the game and adapt to adversity. A huge part of that flexibility is Agyemang, who has scored late in both knockout-stage matches to keep the holders’ title defence alive: an 81st-minute equaliser against Sweden to help secure an eventual penalty shootout win, and again in the semi-final against Italy by making it 1-1 in the sixth minute of added time.
But if you watched that Nations League match against Belgium, you shouldn’t be surprised. She and Wiegman showed us that day exactly what they could do.
Before that Belgium game in April, Arsenal academy graduate Agyemang had made just three Women’s Super League starts, all while on loan at Brighton. So it was really what she did in that moment, producing a bit of magic when England needed it most, that secured her a place in the Euros squad ahead of more experienced options such as Nikita Parris and Fran Kirby.
She can create something out of nothing, and that’s what England need in games. I think of that singular moment that made five-time major tournament finalist coach Wiegman think, “Wow. That kid can do something that nobody else can do. We might need that in a couple of moments this summer.” And she’s proved that right.
It starts with Agyemang’s vision and what she brings to the game before she’s even on the ball. That day against Belgium, when the corner goes in, she already has the good physicality to push the defender marking her off.
She’s obviously very good aerially, but I think this little push-off… bang check. If that fell to her, she would have had the extra yard.
She then reacts to go to win the ball back. If she does not do that, her goal never comes.
Below is where you see more of that natural spatial awareness. She went straight away to peel off the back shoulder. She is now tight, and then creates separation and now she peels… bang.
Agyemang was expecting that pressure from the Belgians.
She goes back on the defender again and stays in between. It’s that ability to always stay in between. Someone gets tight, she goes back again. She’s like a pendulum, swinging back and forth to find the half space and free herself from her marker. That is very impressive.
On the goal itself, she even has the awareness to be on the back shoulder. Her touch and the finish that follows are just calm.
Sometimes you know the ball is coming and you have time to land it on your foot, but you might rush it. It’s just a pure calmness and composure all around that she doesn’t get flustered. It’s also a great ball in, from Leah Williamson, to find Agyemang in that space.
It’s what happened after that goal which solidified her Euros plane ticket for me — and probably Wiegman.
Agyemang went and got the ball out of the goal, as if to say, ‘Right, come on. Let’s go.’ This was her debut for England, but to her, it was a game that her team were 3-1 behind in and they had just got one back with nine minutes left. That mentality is there.
That was the plane ticket — even encouraging the England fans. Momentum is massive. That, for me, would have been: Tick, tick, tick, tick. You’re going to Switzerland.
From movement to goal to celebration, Agyemang has a gift for being in the right place at the right time. It’s not a fluke. It’s her talent. She has this spatial awareness, calm and composed under pressure.
While that goal wasn’t enough to salvage the game against Belgium, it was the precursor to two crucial Euros-saving goals.
What we saw from Agyemang against Sweden and then Italy was a player taking advantage of not being marked. However, she’s always competing for the ball.
Agyemang is always on the back shoulder. On the cross from Chloe Kelly in the 81st minute of the quarter-final, a lot of the effort comes from Beth Mead; however, Agyemang finds a way to be an extra body in the box and adjusts in real time. And more importantly, she shifts her feet well.
She’s really good at setting herself. When Mead heads it, Agyemang is still in the air. Then, when Mead wins it, Agyemang adjusts her feet quickly and finds the ball.
It’s a tidy finish. She’s in the right place at the right time, again.
It was a moment England needed to get the fans involved again. The atmosphere and energy really changed, and that got England through extra time and penalties.
Agyemang, like Kelly before her, creates an aura as soon as she comes on the pitch. Fans, the opposition players, they all know something special is about to follow. And she’s created that in her first major tournament.
That’s why, against Italy, it felt like there was more belief when she went on.
She has an unbelievable ability to read where the ball lands. In that semi-final, once again, she’s not marked. However, she knows where the inswinging cross is going.
She knows she’s not going to get there, so she anticipates where the goalkeeper is going to palm it. That is not a coincidence. That is her game intelligence.
Seeing that the other two players are crashing in, she just hangs back. And then again, the calmness. She adjusts her feet, doesn’t rush the finish, gets the right contact. People shouldn’t underestimate that. Other players would rush, but that foot movement to get herself set is so good.
There was one more bit of magic left in Agyemang during that game.
In the 117th minute, England goalkeeper Hannah Hampton sends a long ball over the top, anticipating where she will go. A lot of credit should go to Hampton for challenging Agyemang to make that run. She’s basically saying, ‘I’ve seen you do it in training, now go show us.’
You have to applaud the awareness and the confidence of Agyemang to try it. Awareness, confidence, pace, strength, technique, skill. She’s just straight on it.
Her shot ultimately clanked off the crossbar, but the idea was there. Could that be another moment teasing what’s to come for a player who will be around for many more tournaments with England?
During these Euros, Wiegman brought Agyemang on in the 70th minute against Sweden and the 85th against Italy.
In both instances, she scored 11 minutes later.
People are saying perhaps she should start the final tonight, but I wouldn’t change her role. What I would do is bring her on a lot earlier. England are leaving it later and later. There were the same calls for Alessia Russo to start at Euro 2022 instead of Ellen White, but Weigman’s plan worked perfectly then.
Even as she does amazing stuff, to do it over 90 minutes in a major final against the world champions at age 19 is a very big ask.
Weigman should stick with Russo to start. She’s been phenomenal, too. Agyemang’s role at the moment is working; leave it as it is. Just don’t leave it as late. Spain keep the ball a lot longer. So if something is going wrong, I think Wiegman has to change it just a little bit earlier.
There is pressure in the role Ageymang has taken, but when it’s your first tournament, you don’t really know everything that’s going on, you just roll with it. It’s in your second or third, when there’s more expectation on you, that things start to feel heavy.
For the first one, however, I hope she’s enjoying it because everything is new and should be fun. You are going to be playing in a major final. Four years ago, she was throwing the ball onto the pitch as a ball girl at England games, and now she’s on it as a player.
You have to roll with that narrative — catch the reveal you should have seen coming all along and enjoy the show.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
England, International Football, Women's Soccer, Women's Euros
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