Danny: This is just for starters
DANNY KERRY says his England women’s side will be better equipped to deal with the pressures of a home World Cup after their opening draw against India.
Lily Owsley returned after four months out injured to save England from an early upset with a late close-range strike that earned a 1-1 draw on Saturday.
It was played in front of a sell-out 10,000 crowd at the Olympic Park, with world No2 side England expecting the same atmosphere on Wednesday against the United States, who were surprisingly beaten 3-1 by Ireland on the same day.
Kerry said: “Some of those players would never have seen a crowd like that.
“We just tried to talk about it rather than make it an issue.”
The three-day preparation time before their second Pool B game is rare in hockey, with teams generally playing double-headers in major tournaments.
England would prefer back-to-back games after Kerry insisted his squad was one of the “better conditioned” of the 16 teams at this World Cup.
“We recover quicker than the opposition so longer gaps between games favour teams who aren’t as well conditioned,” he said.
Owsley broke her hand before April’s Commonwealth Games, at which England took bronze. But her goal from a penalty-corner rebound continued her trend of scoring at key times after she netted in the victorious finals of the 2015 EuroHockey Championships and 2016 Olympics.
“It was without doubt the best crowd and atmosphere I’ve ever played in,” she said.
“You could really feel the crowd in the last quarter and they really pulled it back for us.”
In Pool A yesterday, Italy beat China 3-0 and Korea were thrashed 7-0 by Holland.
In Pool C, Argentina beat Spain 6-2.