Lionesses hit glory trail England ready for Euro opener with Scotland
Sampson prepares side for ‘something special’ Scotland fired up for opening Euros clash
England are embracing the pressure of heightened expectation as they prepare to launch their European Championship campaign against Scotland tonight, with manager Mark Sampson urging them to use the next three weeks to make history.
For so long the underdogs in the international arena, part-time players competing against professional athletes, the England team who finished third at the 2015 World Cup now demand respect – both from opponents and an initially sceptical audience back home.
For the first time, they go into a major tournament with a realistic chance of overall victory. There has been a monumental shift in percep- tions and ambition. However, where there is expectation, there is always the risk of disappointment.
Should England not at least reach the semi-final stage in Holland, they will have failed. It is a new experience for the players, one they seem determined to enjoy rather than endure.
“It’s nice to be able to get excited about an England team doing well in a major tournament,” said Sampson. “We have seen England’s youth teams do really well already this summer and now it is our turn. We have got to try and do something special. The message I’ve given to the players is, it’s three weeks to change the next 50 years of your life. Three weeks of hard work to live the next 50 years as legends. Three weeks to make history.”
For a player like Jill Scott, a veteran of three major tournaments in which England turned up hoping to do well, rather than expecting to do so, the shift is a source of pride. Scott was part of the England side that flopped at the Euros four years ago in Sweden, before confirming the progress made since the domestic game turned professional, by helping England reach the semi-finals in Canada two years later.
The 30-year-old admits the pressure is on this time, but there is resolve in her words rather than apprehension. It definitely feels different coming into this tournament because the expectation that is there,” Scott explained.
“But I’d much rather be in this position, where we’ve performed well at a tournament so we get that added pressure, as opposed to not performing well and nobody talking about us.
“I think we’re in a position now, as a squad, where we’ve got a lot of experienced players that can handle that. We’ve got a great balance and I think we’ll be able to handle that pressure all right.
“We’ve put in so much hard work. What England has provided off the pitch means there’s no excuses for us not to perform. It’s over to us and that’s why the girls are excited. I don’t think we could be better prepared going into the tournament.”
For Jordan Nobbs, this will be her first experience of a senior international tournament after she missed the World Cup because of injury. She is part of the new generation, a player who has emerged in the professional era, first with Sunderland and now Arsenal. There is no inferiority complex, just the belief that England can – and will – beat the best teams.
“This is the first time we have been one of the teams to beat at a tournament and I think that is good,” said Nobbs, who is tipped to become a future England captain. “If you want to be elite at any sport you want to be known as a team to beat, a team to be feared. Having that pressure of winning is a nice feeling, you don’t want to be that underdog anymore, you want to be that team people go: ‘I don’t want to face England’. A lot of the girls have
played in pressure games before so I don’t think that will affect us.”
Scotland, though, should not be underestimated and Sampson revealed his squad had been given a history lesson at their team hotel to try to give them a better understanding of the rivalry in order to match the “intensity” of the Scots.
“We don’t need a history lesson on the rivalry,” retorted Scotland captain Gemma Faye, who will win her 201st cap in Utrecht tonight.
“When you are born in Scotland you are born into it, especially when it comes to sport. We know about that rivalry and it excites us. I hear they have been watching some scenes from Braveheart, well the only thing I’d say about that is Mel Gibson doesn’t even do a proper Scottish accent...
“As a one-off game it is a fantastic occasion, it’s the game that every player from England and Scotland wants to play in. It’s a huge rivalry but first and foremost it’s the opening game of a major tournament and we have waited a long time to qualify for one. We can’t wait to get started.”