5 Things We’ll Miss from Rachel Daly, on her Retirement from International Football.
Rachel Daly has this morning announced her retirement from international football for England, following a 2–0 victory away to Republic of Ireland in which she featured as a substitute. Here’s what we’ll miss from “Dash.”
16 goals across 84 appearances over 8 years. That is certainly no mean feat.
So when Aston Villa’s Rachel Daly announced this morning that she would be stepping back from international football, she was met with an outpouring of love, and appreciation for all she’s done for the game.
She was a staple of “That Team” who brought home the Euro’s at Wembley in 2022, and brought so many new eyes to the women’s game. Though she’s struggled for minutes under Wiegman of late — featuring for just 4 minutes across two matches in this international window — her decision to bow out in the middle of the Lionesses’ Euro 2025 qualifying campaign has shocked many.
Here’s what we’ll miss from a player who has given it all to play at the highest level.
1. Her Dulcet Tones
The sheer joy that filled Trafalgar Square the day after England beat Germany in the 2022 Euro’s Final, will, for me, forever sit right at the top of my “favourite football memories” list.
Daly, with her rendition of “River Deep, Mountain High”, as she whipped her teammates into shape as backing dancers, will forever be an integral part of that.
After two years of COVID-19, and 56 years without silverware for either the men or women at an international level, that moment was exactly what we needed. To celebrate, and sing, and be silly, and bask in the fact that the girls had gone and done it: achieved the seemingly impossible.
Sorry, Tina Turner; that song will forever be Daly’s.
2. Her Game-Winning Goals
Daly’s goal-threat is well known at club level, as 2022–23 Golden Boot winner for Aston Villa in the WSL. She is, after all, a striker by trade.
On the international stage, Daly has often been played out of position as a left wing-back or left-back to bolster England’s defence, but has taken opportunities to get herself on the scoresheet when they’ve presented themselves.
Whenever she scores, she can be seen kissing the “Dad” wristband she wears in memory of her late father, who passed in 2021. Martyn Daly, who played at a semi-pro level, was central to Rachel’s early years in the sport, and she credits him with inspiring her own love of the game.
“I know that somewhere dad will be looking at me beaming with pride. Everyday is another chance for me to do better to make him prouder.” — Rachel Daly, for ITVX
I’m sure he’d be beyond proud of the international career you’ve had, Rachel.
3. Her Friendship with Millie Bright
Lionesses fans have come to love “Dalybrightness” — the moniker for the long-time friendship between Daly and injured Chelsea centreback Millie Bright. The pair even got matching tattoos ahead of the 2023 Women’s World Cup; a 1/2 fraction on their hands, to show that they’re two parts of the same whole.
It’s maybe even more heart-breaking, then, that Daly’s final game comes as Bright is still absent from the England camp, recovering from a long-term knee injury that has seen her out of action since November.
While the two will continue to face each-other at club level — Daly for Aston Villa and Bright for Chelsea — some England fans will feel robbed of the chance to see them join forces for one final game on the international stage.
But rest assured, Bright is still cheering her best friend on from afar, as seen on Instagram this morning.
4. Her Speaking on Issues that Matter
Beyond their prowess on the pitch, one thing that has drawn many to supporting women’s football is their work in advocacy, and their willingness to speak up for wider social issues both within and beyond sport. As the audience for the sport has grown, so too have players’ responsibilities as role-models, and Daly — alongside the rest of the Lionesses — has taken this in her stride.
From discussions on racism, to LGBT+ equality and equal pay and resources for female athletes, Daly has been willing to use her status as an international player to move the game forward not just athletically, but socially, too.
Following the Women’s World Cup, in which England fell short to Spain in the final, the Lionesses were quick to release a statement condemning Luis Rubiales’ behaviour towards Spaniard Jenni Hermoso, supported and reposted by players, including Daly. At a time when players could have been licking their own wounds following a tough-to-take defeat, they used their own voices to amplify others’.
They used their Euro 2022 victory, and the increased recognition and celebrity status that accompanied it, to the same ends; pressuring politicians to increase girls’ access to sport in school, so that “their dreams [can] also come true”.
Football is, nowadays, as much about what happens off the pitch as what happens on it. It’s hard to imagine that there won’t be countless young girls aspiring to be exactly what Daly has been to he sport.
5. Her Versatility
Daly has admitted she feels more “natural” playing as a number 9 in a striker role — and her record at club level proves it.
For England, however, she has been played in a whole host of positions, such is her adaptability on the pitch.
From starting at left-back and left wing-back through the Euro’s, to being England’s most consistent #9 prospect in the lead-up to the World Cup, Daly has been an asset wherever she has been asked to play. She has been willing to play in any position, such is her desire to represent her country.
England currently lack natural strikers to rotate with Arsenal’s Alessia Russo, though Lauren James and Lauren Hemp in midfield have become regular features in Wiegman’s starting XI and provided goals . Despite the lack of options in her most “natural” position, Daly has found herself on the bench more often than not of late.
Daly is perhaps a victim of her own flexibility. Able to play everywhere, she’s struggled more to cement herself in any one particular role. But that same adaptability will always be one of her strongest assets for England.
And… The End of the Euro 2022 Era
Three years on from the Euro 2022 win, and we know by now that we will never again see the team that brought it home join forces again.
Jill Scott and Ellen White played their final game at Wembley in 2022, before lifting the Euro’s trophy.
Manchester City’s Demi Stokes has also not featured since 2022, and the likes of Nikita Parris and Beth England have fallen out of favour, whilst other key players from the 2022 squad remain absent through injury.
As young players — Khiara Keating, Jess Park, Grace Clinton, to name but a few — step up to take on the mantle of England’s legacy, they have something more to live up to now. The legacy of a team that went and won it all.
I’m glad we’re not losing Daly completely, just yet, and that she’ll continue her club career with Aston Villa.
But she’ll be missed in an England shirt, and it certainly feels like the end of an era. Her England teammates’ praise for her today speaks to how integral she has been to the entire operation.
Oh my, oh my … Rachel Daly; you’ve changed the game.
Find me on social media:
- Twitter / X: leftfeetfootie
- Instagram / Threads: leftfeet.football
- Tiktok: leftfeet.football
