Millie Bright dedicated her two goals to her close friend Rachel Daly and the Houston Dash player’s late father after opening her England account against Luxembourg on Tuesday.
The Lionesses’ 10-0 win in the World Cup qualifier at the Stade De Luxembourg saw Bright follow Ellen White and Alex Greenwood in scoring twice, netting headers in the 79th minute and then stoppage time.
Time added on at the end also included a goal from Daly, whose father Martyn died just before the international break. After she scored and was embraced by her team-mates, Daly kissed a band on her wrist displaying the word ‘Dad’ and pointed to the sky.
As well as Tuesday’s match, Daly also started at right-back in England’s Group D opener last Friday, the 8-0 victory over North Macedonia at St Mary’s in which the team wore black armbands in memory of her father.
Chelsea centre-back Bright told a press conference after the Luxembourg game: “For obvious reasons, it’s been a very, very tough week. (I’ve) just (been) making sure I’ve been there for her (Daly) every step of the way and giving her all the strength I’ve got.
“I think the people around her, we have to stand tall and be strong for her and let her have those moments if she needs to have them. I don’t think anyone can be prepared for losing someone, let alone your parent.
“I think one thing Rach wanted was to make her dad proud and my God, she’s done that, just by walking through those doors on the first day of camp, let alone playing two amazing games and then scoring for him.
“I said straight away, I dedicated both my goals, one for Rach and one for her pops, who had the best seat in the stadium. I know for a fact she’s done him proud.”
England boss Sarina Wiegman had earlier said of Daly in her post-match press conference: “It’s really special. Of course, it is a very emotional time in her life, very sad what happened, but how she has performed this week, how she has been focused on football, that’s really incredible.”
Wiegman’s side were 4-0 up against Luxembourg at half-time after White’s early double and efforts from Nikita Parris and Greenwood.
Greenwood then made it 5-0 early in the second half as the one-way traffic continued, Jessica Berscheid’s own goal, Bright’s brace and Daly’s finish took the visitors to nine, and substitute Beth England completed the rout with the third stoppage-time goal.
Bright, who made her England debut in 2016, admitted it felt “amazing” to be among the scorers, adding: “I feel like I’ve finally broken the curse, getting on the scoresheet.
“Proud as always to play for my country but to finally now to score for my country is a huge honour, and hopefully the goals are flooding through now – but the hard work continues.”
