Cheers for Lionesses as they depart Australia following World Cup final heartbreak

Now England are on their way home from Australia after yesterday's World Cup final defeat to Spain. Let's go live to Sydney, speak to our reporter Anton Tolui out there for the last time. Anton, goodness me, it's been a long six weeks over there. We've seen the England players this morning, what's the feeling like the day after missing out on that World Cup glory to Spain? Well I think the players were feeling all of the emotions as they left Sydney one last time today. Chatting to the players straight after that game last night, the emotions were raw, they were real and they were a little bit worried that they felt like they let the fans down last night but those fears would have been allayed when they came out of their hotel today. Dozens of fans cheering them on when they went to the airport, more fans cheering them on. They felt the love from the Lionesses fans out here in Sydney and I know they'll get a warm reception when they get back as well. Obviously look they've got a long flight home to consider what they've achieved, what they've been through, how it's all gone and yet at the same time I suppose look ahead. But yeah so they are feeling all the emotions right now, I think all of us are and there's no one I'd rather talk about all the emotions in this World Cup with than our own former Lioness Sue Smith. Sue, look you've had 24 hours to think about this I suppose. What are your overriding emotions after last night's final and break down how you think it went? You've got to say I'm probably feeling the same way as a lot of the players, disappointed. Really gutted for them that they couldn't just get over the line and win the trophy but at the same time immensely proud of them and what they've achieved. I think you mentioned there everything that they've had to go through before the tournament, the amount of injuries that they had going into that tournament, key players missing probably the spine of their side through injuries and retirement and yet they managed to get themselves to the final. They had to beat different sides along the way, beating teams from different continents. Whatever was put in front of them they seemed to cope with but I just thought they were beaten by the better team on the day. I thought Spain were excellent and yeah they'll be disappointed but I think once they reflect and they go home and they speak to people and see the support that they've had from everybody back home, hopefully they'll be proud and they'll know that there's a lot more to come from this England side. Yes there's experienced players but there's also a real group of young players that you just feel there's going to be even more to come from them. You're talking about what the team achieved and it sounds like a lot of it is the mentality, the tenacity, how they managed to bounce back from various sort of stumbling blocks and adversity but what actually happened last night? What was England's downfall and what led to Spain winning? I think Spain performed which I think we all knew that they were going to do. I think probably the best thing that could have happened to Spain was that defeat against Japan where they got beat 4-0 and they learnt from that in a way that we know that Spain are very good in possession but what they struggled with was when a team counter-attacked them and Japan did that so well. They were really clinical and you could see that the game after that they stopped that from happening so they made sure that yes of course they're going to commit players forward but they're always set and they're steady at the back and I thought in midfield they were superb but what Spain can do is we know that they dominate possession, we know that they like to play through the thirds but they can also go direct if they need to. They've got the pace of Padejo who was stretching the play continuously, they've obviously got quality out wide so they can get the ball out wide and get deliveries into the box and you just felt like England went to press and they went to press the Spanish defence because you thought well they like to play the ball out from the back can we win it high up but they've got such good quality they just played around that press and then England then dropped back a little bit and at times maybe caught a little bit in two minds. I know Serena Wiegman then changed the system brought on a couple of players at half time and it worked. I thought England got themselves back into the game but sometimes in big games like that it's moments isn't it and Spain took their moment, they scored the opportunity that they got and unfortunately England didn't so yeah I think there was a few sort of things that I'm sure Serena Wiegman will reflect on, the players will reflect on but unfortunately for England yeah the better side won. Yeah they are in Spain terrifying prospect going forward aren't they they've got what they're the under 17 world champions under 20 world champions now obviously the senior world champions they have I think 12 players in that squad are 24 or under that's a terrifying prospect going forward but one of the players of the tournament I'm not going to full name her because she deserves all the respect is Mary Alexandra, it's my word how impressed were you with her performances during this tournament? She's been outstanding hasn't she and she's the world's best for for a reason when you know England were under pressure even in that that opening game against Haiti where you know they had that that real I think they had a couple of opportunities didn't they she she pulls off big saves at big moments obviously saving the penalty I thought that was going to be the turning point for England but I just think she's grown and grown and you can see now that she obviously instills I suppose confidence on the defenders in front of her you can hear her constantly communicating with those players around her like say she she makes big saves but you you just have confidence in her even you know when they were stepping up Hermoso was stepping up to take that penalty you still thought you know what Mary has got a real good chance of saving this she's so confident and absolutely deserves all of the plaudits that that she's getting. Right you know I bring the heart glass half empty you bring the glass half full right so talk to me about what we can expect from England as they go into the next cycle as they go towards 2025 potentially potentially the last cycle I suppose under Serena Beegman because that's when her contract expires. I think just more success I think more finals competing at the highest level and get into the latter stages of tournaments again winning the world cup would would be amazing but I just think this group of players now I think what Serena Beegman has done is she's created an environment of a winning mentality these players you could see the disappointment in their faces and I suppose that even shows how far that they've come they've got to a world cup final and yet they're absolutely gutted because they went there to win it so yes second is is good before the tournament you know you would say that but these players didn't want second they wanted to go and and win it and bring that trophy home so they'll reflect on that they'll learn from that they've won the euros now what's next for the group players and you can see that we've obviously got players to come back in those players that were injured but there's a real strength in depth now there's an environment there that this team want to win stuff so yeah I think there's so much more to come from this England side and we're all massively proud of them hopefully they'll all be proud of themselves when it when it all sinks in and they realise what they have actually achieved