For England, as it so often does, it ended in tears, but before the grief came glory. Unfancied, underestimated, they recovered from narrow defeat to France in their opening game to ride a wave of 2-1 victories to the 2015 World Cup semi-finals, where they would take on the reigning champions, Japan. Back in England, interest had blossomed: all their games except the second, against Mexico, were watched by more than two million people. In Canada, the squad spoke of being inundated with messages of support.

“At the start of the tournament people were used to English football failures in major tournaments,” said the right-back Lucy Bronze. “We were always being lumped in with the men. It was just a case of here we go again whenever we went into one. We wanted to change that. We didn’t want to be another English football team that let the nation down. We wanted to do the nation proud and I think that’s why people are jumping in now, because we have made the country proud.”

They were not finished yet. England went a goal down in the 33rd minute against Japan but swiftly equalised, both those strikes coming from the penalty spot (both decisions were questionable, with the tumble by the England captain, Steph Houghton, that led to the equaliser apparently completely unprovoked). England proceeded to push for victory and an unlikely place in the final. Japan controlled possession, as that team almost always did, but it was the English who made the chances, taking 15 shots to their opponents’ seven. “It won’t be about which team has the most possession or who dictates the play,” the England manager Mark Sampson said before the game, “it will be about whoever creates and takes the chances. Seize the moment – that’s going to be the story of the game.”

In these crucial moments, England did not seize theirs. Toni Duggan hit the bar; Ellen White forced a fine save; Jill Scott headed wide from a corner. The goal would not come, and the game seemed destined for extra time. And then, in the second minute of stoppage time, Nahomi Kawasumi broke down the right wing. To her left, two teammates sprinted towards the area. She looked up, she took her time, and then she curled in a low cross.

“My intention was just to get a touch on the ball,” Laura Bassett said. With Yuki Ogimi behind her and poised for a shot on goal, it would have been too dangerous just to let it go. So she stretched out her right leg, and managed to get her toe to it.

It could have gone anywhere. It could have looped over the bar, or skewed either side of the post. It could have floated harmlessly to Karen Bardsley in the England goal, or run across the six-yard box to safety. But Bassett connected with the ball in such a way that it looped over Bardsley, clipped the bar and bounced down. “Watching it hit the crossbar, there was a point when Steph cleared it that I thought maybe it hadn’t gone in,” Bassett said. This was when the referee’s watch came to life and England’s World Cup was dealt a killer blow. It had crossed the line.

England defender Laura Bassett gets a touch on a Nahomi Kawasumi’s cross ... Photograph: Newscom/Alamy

And England goalkeeper Karen Bardsley (left), Bassett (on ground) and Steph Houghton (centre) can only look on as the ball flies into the net via the underside of the bar. Photograph: Canadian Press/Shutterstock

There could hardly be a more cruel conclusion to such a crucial match. Moments later the final whistle blew and the tears flowed. “After the game I was heartbroken, devastated, just uncontrollable,” Bassett said. “Something took over and I was out of control. I wanted to get out of there. I wanted to cry and be on my own and bury my head. It was so, so cruel.”

Bassett, still crying, was led off the pitch by her teammates. “We’re all looking after Laura, letting her know it wasn’t her fault,” Karen Carney said. “We’re there for her; we’re a team through all the highs and lows. We’re 100% going to give her all the love and support she needs.”

“Look, Laura Bassett’s name is on that scoresheet, but she’s epitomised this England team this tournament,” Sampson said. “She’s been courageous, strong, kept this group together. She didn’t deserve that, but she should be looked upon as a hero, an absolute hero. That’s who people will remember — the Laura Bassett who headed and blocked and tackled and kept this team together.”

Laura Bassett beats Mexico’s Charlyn Corral in the air during England’s 2-1 win in their group game. Photograph: USA Today Sports

She still had work to do. Somehow, this heartbroken England side had to regroup for one final challenge. Germany might also have been struggling to come to terms with semi-final defeat, but theirs was a team of impeccable pedigree. England had never reached the last four of a World Cup; Germany had two titles, one second place and two semi-final defeats to their name. Since reunification they had played eight European Championships and won seven, while England had reached one semi-final (in 1995, when they lost 6-2 to Germany) and one final (in 2009, when they lost 6-2 to Germany again). Frankfurt had just become the eighth German team to win the Champions League in 11 years. England had played Germany 20 times, lost 18 and never won.

Germany’s coach, Silvia Neid, was a walking, talking repository of her country’s glorious past in women’s football. In 1982 she had been an 18-year-old substitute in their first ever international fixture, No 1 in her collection of 111 caps, and on retirement she moved into coaching. Until 2019 they had never played a World Cup game without Neid being involved at some level. Sampson, whose own finest achievement had been leading Bristol Academy to second place in the 2013 WSL, called her “the greatest coach in the history of the women’s game”.

England’s task, in short, was at least as hard as the one they faced in the semi-final. And unlike the men’s team whose push for glory in the 1990 World Cup had ended with Paul Gascoigne’s tears and defeat to Italy in the third-place play-off, it was one they rose to. With Bassett in the heart of their defence again, they won 1-0 through Fara Williams’ extra-time penalty. “We knew all the facts going into the game,” Williams said. “All those things drove us on to give one more big performance, because we didn’t want to come away from the World Cup on the back of a defeat.” They returned with bronze medals and were met at Heathrow by flag-waving crowds, just some of those who had been absorbed and inspired by their progress through the tournament.

England players show off their medals as they celebrate after winning the third place play-off. Photograph: Lars Baron/FIFA via Getty Images

“It does still hurt,” Bassett said last year. “Good and bad memories are always going to pop into your head. I just find peace with those situations – I fully own it, I’m responsible for it, but you get perspective and it’s a part of our history. We have to be proud of where we’ve come from and what we’ve done. Some things happen for a reason. I certainly haven’t let that moment define me.”