Lucy Bronze could have chosen to play for Portugal because of her father but
England came calling just in time“They got in touch when I was 16. I turned round and said to my mum: ‘If I don’t make the England team before my 22nd birthday, I’m off to play for Portugal.’”
It is hard to imagine Lucy Bronze pulling on another international shirt, or how scarily close England came to letting the player now widely considered to be the best defender in the world slip through their fingers. But Bronze’s senior call-up was a long time coming and, with a Portuguese father, Joaquim, she had options.