Esme Morgan: 'It was just good vibes'

The game against Wales was a lot of fun. It started off well with the penalty and we had lots of goals. It was special for me personally seeing Hempo score at a major tournament. I know she did at the last one but to be there in person again for it, I just feel so proud watching all of my friends do well but Hempo is my bestie.

Although, I had my thumbs up at her for like 30 seconds across the pitch, arms in the air and everything and she didn’t look over! She was just in her own little world which is acceptable after you’ve scored.

Lots of the girls off the bench made an amazing impact when they came on and obviously we had our little snap celebration planned together. It was just good vibes throughout the team, a really good end to the group stages and has us feeling positive now going into the knockouts.

I first came across snaps in America because in my first analysts' meeting when they introduced me, I was asked to say a few words. People started snapping and I was like, ‘what on earth are they doing?’ As my interactions with the Americans progressed, I realised it was just a substitute for clapping.

In the Holland game, it was Aggie or Maya, we were just chatting about something and they started snapping and we just started doing snaps for everything and it’s become a bit of a thing that all of us on the bench do to celebrate something positive.

In the Wales game, we said, ‘right, if any of us get on the pitch and score, you’ve got to come over and we’ll all snap together.’ Thankfully they remembered! We were all there by the sideline ready and waiting and Meado and Aggie both sprinted over bless them.

Last time I was at a tournament, I was making lots of bracelets. This time, my role has been taken. 'Less and Tooney are making people bracelets at the minute which is lovely. My craft time commitments have now gone to my cross-stitch which I’ve been doing for ages on and off, so I’ve really just started it the last couple of days.

In classic Esme tournament tradition, I left my essay until the last minute for my uni work so I had to get that boxed off but now, I commit to doing my cross-stitch which is a map of the British Isles and it’s really cool. I’m very close to being done with it so I’m excited about that and I’ll probably make a TikTok about it.

Pretty much my favourite sport or activity in the players’ lounge has been basketball and a few of us were just having a little shooting competition and just doing random things. I thought, it’d be a great TikTok if we got everyone to do a little trick shot for the camera. I went around recruiting everyone and I thought I’d have a few people who weren’t as enthusiastic and didn’t want to take part but everyone was buzzing about it. People just kept trickling in saying, ‘Ez, I’ve got my trick shot idea’. It was a lot of fun.

I’m umming and erring about whether to release the bloopers or not because if we’re being honest, there are a few and they’re quite entertaining.

They just keep getting better and better 😂 👀 🏀 pic.twitter.com/FxinwzfaFm

— Lionesses (@Lionesses) July 11, 2025

I miss Biscuit – my kitten that I recently adopted – so much. I was telling the girls actually today. Sandy MacIver is looking after them and lots of my other Spirit team-mates too are popping in, keeping her company and playing with her. Whenever they send me a video of her or a picture, I can literally smell Biscuit’s smell in my nose and she smells so sweet. I love her so much!

I’ve been FaceTiming her a little bit too and I think she misses me as well because whenever I’m on FaceTime, she comes up and headbutts the phone and nuzzles against it.

Focus now turns to the Sweden game. This morning, we’ve looked at different aspects of the threats they provide tactically and areas that we can also exploit. It’s going to be a lot more of that, getting information on what to expect from that and preparing ourselves and keep positive vibes high coming into the latter stages of the tournament.