The highlight of today's daily roundup is our local lasses scoring on the big stage, as England Women progress to the final of Euro 2022. Meanwhile, Darren Bent has made a bold prediction on Jordan Henderson's future...
TWO OF OUR OWN
Beth Mead played for Sunderland between 2011 and 2017, and last night scored the opener as the Lionesses strolled into the Euro 2022 final with a 4-0 win over Sweden. Mead found her sixth goal of the tournament after collecting a pass from Lucy Bronze, who scored the second goal of the game with a header. Bronze, who began her career at Sunderland, had to wait for VAR to allow her goal but quality finishes from Alessio Russo and Fran Kirby rounded off a monumental win for the women. 28,624 people were in attendance for the game- a record crowd for a Women's Euros semi-final. The lasses will go on to face Germany or France in Sunday's final, largely down to the talented women from the North East.
BENT PRAISES HENDERSON
In other news, Darren Bent has claimed that Jordan Henderson was 'digging out' senior players at just 18 years old, and is certain that the 32-year-old is destined for a managerial job one day: “You always knew he had the dedication. When we were at Sunderland he was a young kid then, maybe 18. There had been a lot of talk about him, he’d been linked to everyone, but he got his head down, worked hard and set a good example. I always knew he would go on to become something special. He would call out senior players. It takes a lot of courage to call out senior players when they weren’t pulling their weight, he was giving them a rollocking… at 18. Even in training, he didn’t want his team to lose possession of the ball, he didn’t want to lose a five-a-side. We knew he had that determination and passion. I always knew he would succeed. What you didn’t want to happen when he left for Liverpool was for people to compare him to Steven Gerrard. Steven Gerrard is a great of the Premier League and they are two completely different players. I wanted people to judge him in his own rights. Now people realise how good and important he has been to Liverpool.”
When asked if Henderson would want to become a manager, Bent added: “100 per cent. I can’t see him retiring, calling it a day and just playing golf. He will want to do something and he could be a manager. It also wouldn’t surprise me if one day he went back to Sunderland.”
