Simply the Best: England goalkeeper Mary Earps' inspiring World Cup journey

Back in November 2019, England welcomed Germany to Wembley for a highly anticipated clash between two of Europe’s best. It was just a friendly, but it proved to be an occasion that meant much more in the grand scheme of things, with 77,768 turning up to watch the Lionesses. It was a record crowd for the women’s national team in England.

Earps was in between the sticks for her country that day, which felt significant. This was one of the biggest games in the history of English women’s football and then-head coach Phil Neville had selected her to wear the No.1 shirt for it.

It also seemed to be a positive sign regarding Earps’ England career. She had just gone to the 2019 Women's World Cup as a back-up goalkeeper, but Karen Bardsley and Carly Telford, the other two shot-stoppers in that squad, were coming towards the end of their respective careers. The No.1 shirt was soon to be up for grabs…

But then, all of a sudden, Earps was completely out of the picture. A few days later, in a friendly with the Czech Republic, Neville would choose to play Telford instead, and when the next international break came around in February, Earps wasn’t even selected. The coach never picked her again.

“To go from the highest high and play for your country in the biggest game in English female football history, in front of nearly 80,000 people, to then not get selected for SheBelieves was very difficult for me personally,” she told The Times in early 2021.

“I won’t sugar-coat it, I will tell you straight, it was very difficult. I don’t mean from an ego point of view, I mean [it] genuinely hurt to the core of my being. I used my time in the lockdown as best as I could to put myself in the best position, mentally and also in terms of technically.

“I feel in a completely different space now in my brain. I feel like, of course, [England] is where I would like to be, I won’t tell you any lies, I’m not going to pretend, ‘Oh it’s completely gone, whatever,’ but I’m at peace with what happened.”

Neville left his role in early 2021 and in came Hege Riise, the legendary Norwegian who won the Euros, World Cup and Olympics in her playing days. She was to take charge of England on an interim basis and of Great Britain for the Games in Tokyo that summer. She did not select Earps during her time in charge of both.

But after Team GB’s quarter-final exit in Japan, a change would come that would benefit the Manchester United star immediately.

In September 2021, after leaving her role with the Netherlands, Sarina Wiegman named her first squad as England boss. Earps was in, earning her first call-up since that game with Germany in November 2019. To say it caught her off guard would be an understatement. The goalkeeper was cooking dinner and thinking about heading out to John Lewis to buy some curtain poles. Then she got an email containing the “surreal” news.

“I rang my mum and dad straightaway,” she told reporters at the time. “They know the challenges that I faced and obviously they've been through everything with me, so they were just really happy for me and just said, ‘Look, go and enjoy yourself’.

“[Then] I rang my coach and he was like, ‘This is the first time I've ever heard you be speechless’. I was like, ‘Yeah, that sounds about right!’”

Earps would be chosen to start Wiegman’s first game in charge, an 8-0 win over North Macedonia, and quickly became her No.1 goalkeeper in the build-up to the Euros.

At England’s home tournament, she made some outstanding saves as the Lionesses kept four clean sheets in six games in a triumphant summer, her performances helping her to be named the Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper earlier this year, too.

There’s a reason why Earps has been able to keep hold of that shirt since Wiegman came in. Her form in that time has been absolutely brilliant, with her certainly playing at the best level of her career to date this past year in particular.

While previously there might have been an error or two in her game, the 30-year-old has ironed those out and made them much more rare. She’s clearly confident when she has the ball at her feet, her role as a leader has grown immensely and her shot-stopping appears to have only got better – even if it was already at a high level.

Consistency has been one of Earps’ stand-out traits, too, with that helping United take Chelsea to the final day in the Women’s Super League title race this past season while also securing Champions League football.

In fact, there was no goalkeeper more impressive in the division in 2022-23, that reliability between the sticks coming with an eye-catching highlights reel, including match-winning stops just like that one against Haiti on Saturday.

Given what she has done for club and country, it’s no surprise that Earps has become a real fan favourite, then. Turn up to watch her play for United and you’ll see the crowd littered with goalkeeper shirts, with supporters keen to show their love for their outstanding No.1.

Sadly, you won’t see any of that in the England sections of the crowds in Australia, with Nike choosing not to put any of the Women’s World Cup goalkeeper shirts on sale. It’s something Earps spoke about openly in the days leading up to her tournament debut, dubbing the decision “hugely disappointing and very hurtful.”.

It’s Nike’s loss, really, because with the 30-year-old already producing eye-catching saves, the number of people wanting to buy her jersey will likely only grow as the World Cup goes on.

“She’s so focused and there was a large part of the [Haiti] game where she didn’t have much to do,” England defender Alex Greenwood said the day after, on Lionesses: Down Under. “She has to stay focused and prepared for the moments where she is called upon. Yesterday, she proved what a top-class goalkeeper she is with two massively important saves.

"With her routine before the game and how she prepares, she’s as serious as she looks on the pitch. I have no doubt when someone goes one-on-one with Mary, she’ll pull out the save.”

Those are words that perfectly encapsulate how much faith England, from the players to the staff to the fans, have in Earps at the back. You certainly need a goalkeeper like that if you want to win a World Cup.