Neville: Only winning the World Cup will do
Manager looking forward to semi-final against US Ex-United player to coach Team GB at the Olympics
Phil Neville has warned England that only winning the World Cup will represent success as his players attempt to make history against the United States.
England could become the country’s first women’s team to reach the tourna- ment showpiece, but head coach Neville has insisted that they must return with the trophy to fulfil their potential.
The widely anticipated semi-final against the world champions and tournament favourites on Tuesday prom- ises to be the biggest-ever match for England women, with their knockout stage wins having both broken TV viewing records in this country.
More than 7.6million watched their quarter-final victory over Norway and, with another evening prime-time slot on BBC One, the game in the heat of Lyon should smash that figure.
“It is going to be a hell of a game,” Neville said. “We have reached the moment now where we have to deliver. A semi-final defeat would represent failure. This England team is ready to win now. I said to the players this morning that it would be easy now for them to think, ‘Whatever happens now, we have got to the semi-final, my reputation is intact, we’ll probably get invited to Downing Street, everybody loves us at home’. I don’t want that.
“We have to develop the serial winner mentality. We have to develop that ruthlessness. I don’t want us saying that there is no pressure on us. That’s the safe way to think. We have to be even braver. The only way for us to go back home is as winners. If we don’t, we have to keep striving to understand that losing in a semi-final is not OK.”
To succeed, they first have to beat what Neville described as the most “ruthless team in the tournament”.
“No one else scored 13 goals against Thailand,” he said, referring to their group-stage thrashing. “Their ruth- lessness is their strength. They are the best in the world. We have got to be 20 per cent braver than we have ever been before to win this game. If you waver, they will punish you.”
He is relishing the match-up. “This is the game we wanted,” he said. “When we were watching the game [against France], we wanted the USA to win because we wanted to play them. We have always known that when we got to the World Cup, we were going to have to beat the USA if we were going to win the tournament. We have planned and prepared for this. We are in great shape. I don’t think they will look forward to playing us.”
Neville confirmed that he would coach Team GB at next year’s Olympics in Tokyo, with England qualifying as one of the top three European nations as a result of the US knocking out hosts France on Friday.
As the lead football association on the issue, the FA has the right to choose the coach and will appoint Neville, who has matched England’s achievement of four years ago by guiding them to the semi-finals. The FA regarded that as the minimum requirement. “I will be the coach that takes the team to the Olympics,” Neville said. “It is going to be very special but let’s go and win a World Cup first.”