This is not the ideal way to prepare for a major tournament. A shocking retirement, beat the world champion and then retire again. The journey to England encountered some turmoil.
Flying on the walls of Barcelona's England locker room, the first thing you'll see is a team frustrated by a defeat in Spain, but the environment will soon be covered up when Fran Kirby announces that she will no longer play international football.
Kirby is a determined person. She has overcome great adversity in her career. She has a lot of experience. But she won't be selected for the euro this summer, which has made her call in her international career.
Kirby's retirement is only the end of the 31-year-old lioness's career. Given her troubles with injuries and illness in recent years, and her position on the team now firmly goes beyond the starting lineup, her decision is not entirely strange. But when she added this fact to her decision to retire with Mary Earps last week, it presented another unnecessary difficult moment so close to the euro as she wouldn't be England's starting goalkeeper and defender Millie Bright took a break from mental and physical burnout.
England's European champion defense began in just 31 days when they competed in France in the opening match in Zurich. The team they compete will announce on Thursday - another moment has the potential to upset the team.
Kirby has been a key member of the squad for more than a decade. As they continued to win the Euro 2022 European Cup, she started all six England fixtures. Although experienced players like Lucy Bronze remained on the side, few others could match her level of involvement.
Her story has always been one of the obstacles to overcome. After her mother died at the age of 14, she quit football when she was a teenager. She suffered regular injuries throughout her career and was eliminated after being diagnosed with pericarditis (an inflammation filled with fluid cystitis around her heart). She was in 2019. Even in the face of many difficulties, Kirby found a way to persevere, joining Brighton nine years later at Chelsea and working hard at Chelsea to return to the Lionesses’ framework.
But, to be honest, Kirby's recent position is marginal. Her last appearance came from a 6-0 bench against Portugal on Friday. Wiegman's decision not to call her for the euro would leave a clear absence, but that was not surprising. Kirby had a chance to play on standby player, but chose to oppose it.
The broader problem is not necessarily her retirement itself, and she quickly left the two main players even before the euro, but rather the degree to which she felt uneasy about the team.
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After all, this is England, they have a very tough group on the euro. They have not found the form shown on the way to win the previous edition in recent months. Things were hit. They have entered the game with the public expecting that it would be tricky for them to retain the championship, but now they have to deal with the squad's turmoil at the same time as well.
Kirby was supposed to be an important player in a game that seemed very tired. The same is true for Earps, which is also the best choice for England's backup goalkeepers. Instead, in this case, newcomers can be able to rely on this situation when they need it.
It was another moment in Barcelona late Wednesday after the full-time whistle exploded and manager Wiegman spoke to the media, which to some extent typical of the current lioness story. The England boss will make his debut to Aston Villa midfielder Missy Bo Kearns, a clear sign of a guard change.
This England team can never stay the same forever. There will always be changes. However, this is the timing that proves the biggest potential problem.
It's only one month until their euro defense begins. Players may find themselves having some sort of concentration during preparation for all the turmoil that is happening right now. Wiegman will want the opposite, and she hopes to remain quiet for the last month.
Quietness will make life easier. England is unable to focus on anything, but prepares to be at the best of the euro and fine-tune their game style. In Spain, especially in the second half, they were ranked second and did not manage to make much impression. They are not as good as they were in previous years, there is still a lot of work to be done, and - crucially - there is almost no valuable time to complete.
England is close to the euro that needs peace. They hope to find such an environment after announcing the last 23 players.
A week like this, dominated by what happened on the court, a defeated victory in Spain won Portugal, a type that England absolutely doesn't want to endure anymore.
They need to learn what they have spent on the storm on the court and what they have spent in the camp parallel. Wigman has a lot of work on his hands.