David Beckham called Steph Houghton after her “devastating” penalty miss in the 2019 World Cup semi-final against the USA, which ultimately denied the Lionesses a chance of reaching the final.
With the game 2-1 to the USA in the 82nd minute, England captain Houghton stepped up knowing that a goal would likely send the game into extra-time. Unfortunately for her and the rest of her team-mates, Alyssa Naeher in the USA goal managed to save the spot-kick.
The USWNT went on to win the trophy after beating the Netherlands 2-1 in the final. It was a back-to-back win for the team who also claimed the World Cup in 2015, while England had to settle for fourth place after losing to Sweden in the third-place play-off.
What did David Beckham say to England captain Steph Houghton?
“To be the person who misses the penalty to potentially take you into a World Cup final is heartbreaking,” Houghton tells FourFourTwo. “It wasn’t like I wasn’t confident – it was just a s**t penalty.
“I was devastated not to make the final, but I do think that was one of my best tournaments for England in terms of consistency. I scored against Cameroon and defended really well against Norway.
“After that penalty miss, though, people’s perceptions of me changed, no matter what I did or how I played. In every tournament, there’s got to be a scapegoat. I could have quit international football and hid, but I didn’t – I just kept going.”
She added it was then-head coach Phil Neville who got Beckham on the phone.
“The morning after the semi-final, I’d hardly had any sleep and Phil [Neville] messaged to say, ‘Can you come down?’,” Houghton says. “I thought, ‘I can’t be bothered – what’s Phil going to say?’ But he said he had someone to speak to me. It was Becks.
“He was so nice, so reflective of what had happened to him at the 1998 World Cup and how he bounced back. He had come to watch us at the Norway game – he’d brought his little girl – so he’d been following us. That was what Phil was really good at: knowing when to use those moments to pick people up.”
Neville was the England manager from 2018-2021 and he won one piece of silverware in that time, the SheBelieves Cup in 2019.
In FourFourTwo’s view he has a slightly tarnished legacy as he left the Lionesses and immediately went into management in men’s football with some fans viewing him as using women’s football to help his career. Houghton, however, speaks highly of her former boss.
“I had a really good feeling in terms of how he wanted us to play, and the culture,” Houghton adds. “We came off the back of a very good manager in Mark Sampson and it was a shame that went the way it did, but Phil coming in with his energy really boosted the girls.
“My first six months with him were tough because I hurt my ankle and missed the SheBelieves Cup, so they were away for two weeks with a new manager and you’re nervous that you’re missing a lot of information.
“But after six months we met at Worsley Park Marriott and went for a cup of coffee, and that’s when you get to know people. He was unbelievable for me and my career, and he really made an impact on women’s football. He let us play with a bit more bravery.
“And, with everything that was going on with my husband [Stephen Darby who was diagnosed with MND in 2018], he knew how to manage me as an experienced player, saying, “You don’t need to play this game; you can get your rest in.” I don’t think I would have played until I was 36 without those little breaks.”