Steph Houghton may not have got the fairy-tale ending that she would've hoped for after missing out on England's Euro success... but her legacy extends beyond the trophy hauls and THAT goal against Brazil

The date is July 31, 2012, and Steph Houghton has just written her name into the history books. 

Having already scored twice in Team GB’s first two group fixtures in the Olympic Games, Houghton has made it three goals in three, but this one is different. 

This one is against Brazil, in front of 70,584 people at Wembley. This one will make her a household name, the first real women’s football icon in this country. 

Houghton, a centre back, has finished it like a striker and has been mobbed by her team-mates. Team GB and England’s manager Hope Powell, not one for big celebrations, is telling her players to calm down - but even she must know how huge this moment is.

Ten years later and the date is July 31, 2022. England have just beaten Germany to win the Euros at Wembley but, this time, Houghton is not there.

Perhaps she should have been. Perhaps she deserved to be. But football is not always fair.

England would not have won the Euros without Houghton’s goal against Brazil 10 years earlier. That may sound outlandish, but it is true.

That game in 2012 did not change the course of women’s football overnight, but it showed what was possible. It demonstrated the potential. It was key to the Football Association committing to sustained investment which eventually led to England’s crowning moment 10 years later.

Houghton announced on Wednesday that she will retire from football at the end of the Women’s Super League season. She has not played for England since 2021. It is hard to shake off the feeling that it should not have ended like this.

There is an alternative reality where Houghton did not injure her achilles in Sarina Wiegman’s first camp as manager in September 2021, where she continued to captain the team for the Euros and the World Cup a year later. 

Instead, Wiegman named Leah Williamson as captain in Houghton’s absence. When it became clear Houghton faced a race against time to be fit for the tournament, Williamson was given the captaincy permanently. It made sense. 

She was 25 at the time and would be part of the squad for the next decade while Houghton was coming to the end of her international career. 

She could still have a role to play in the squad if she could prove her fitness. Houghton believes she did that. 

She was selected for the provisional squad of 28 leading up to the Euros but did not make the final 23. Wiegman did not think she was fit enough. 

There was a feeling too that it would have been difficult for Williamson to lead the team with her predecessor in the background.

England went on to win without Houghton. You cannot dispute Wiegman’s decision-making in that sense. Football can be wonderful and magical but it can also be brutal. Houghton has had her fair share of both experiences.

She captained the Lionesses at the 2015 World Cup where they finished with a bronze medal. She did so again at the 2017 Euros, where England were eliminated in the semi-finals. 

There was belief that 2019 could be the year where they went one step further. Nearly. Houghton was impeccable throughout the World Cup in France, but the defining moment was her missed penalty against the United States in the semi-final, where England were beaten 2-1.

Her last international tournament was the delayed Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2021. It did not compare to 2012. Games were played behind closed doors due to Covid-19 and Team GB, managed by Hege Riise, struggled to perform.

Houghton, the first woman to appear on the front of Shoot magazine, led women’s football through a significant period of growth. 

She did it too while going through personal struggles. Her husband, former footballer Stephen Darby, was diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND) in 2018 and Houghton has helped raise awareness of the illness - for which there is no cure.

Three days before announcing her retirement, Houghton helped complete a 178-mile march from Bradford to Liverpool, raising £130,000 for The Darby Rimmer MND Foundation.

Houghton always had time for fans and some of them - the likes of Georgia Stanway and Jess Park - even went on to play alongside her.

You need only look at the reaction of Houghton’s former and current team-mates to the news of her retirement to understand the impact she has had on the game.

Ellen White, the Lionesses’ record goalscorer, said she felt ‘privileged’ to have played with her while Jill Scott described her as a ‘true legend of the game’. 

What comes next for Houghton is unclear. Pep Guardiola told her she should go into management while Emma Hayes said she would be an asset to any club.

Houghton’s career took her from Sunderland to Leeds, to Arsenal and Manchester City. She has won 16 domestic trophies and could end this season as a WSL champion should City beat Chelsea to the title. 

But there are certain players who will always be associated with England and Houghton is one of them. That is why it is a shame her last moment with the Lionesses ended in an emotional and angry exit from St George’s Park after a frank conversation with Wiegman before the Euros.

Football does not always give you a fairytale ending. There are highs and lows and Houghton’s career has given her a fair share of both. But her legacy is not that miss against the USA, or not making the Euros squad. 

It is that summer night in 2012 when she gave thousands of girls across the country hope that they could follow in her footsteps. The women’s game would not be where it is today without her.