England’s meeting with Spain took an unexpected twist on Wednesday evening as players were left fumbling around in the dark.
Jess Park had given the Lionesses the lead in the 33rd minute, leaving manager Sarina Wiegman to deliver a positive team talk at the break. They were just over six minutes into the second period when Wembley was suddenly plunged into darkness.
Park hoofing the ball out for a Spain throw-in was the last act the crowd saw before the lights went out. Thousands in attendance put their phone torches on, but there was no remedying the situation, and nearly a minute and a half had passed by the time they came back on.
“Well, the lights have gone out,” said ITV commentator Seb Hutchinson as a shriek echoed around Wembley. “Play has stopped. And the crowd are trying to help out by lighting up their phones – it’s not going to be enough light, that’s for sure.
“Let’s just wait for the generator to kick in any moment now… it’s an interesting situation here, because it’s not often that Wembley loses its power. But I can pretend that the game is still going on if you’d like. The players are walking off the field just as the lights come back on! Welcome back!”
Once the game resumed, England held onto their lead and saw out an impressive 1-0 win to go second in League A Group 3, level on points with leaders Portugal and ahead of Spain and Belgium.
Manchester City star and winning goalscorer Park told ITV after the final whistle: “I thought we were really good in and out of possession. We battled hard, battled to the last minute. The whole team got stuck in and we came out with the win which is so good.
“[It will give us] loads of confidence, loads of belief, we’ll take it through to the next games we have. I think we were really clear. We were all together and worked really hard and it showed and we got the win.”
Park, who is still only 23, has vowed to earn her spot at this summer’s Euros by continuing to churn out performances for City.
“I’ll keep working hard at the club, I’ll keep doing what I’m trying to do on the pitch and I’ll give it everything to be there,” she said.
