England will be forced to go to ‘another level’

US pose huge test for side who know defeat will turn campaign into a failure, writes Luke Edwards

Excitement is building, hopes are soaring, expectations rising, but England have not achieved anything at this World Cup they have not done before. They are nothing special, not yet. It is what comes next that will define this team.

As convincing as they were in the quarter-final win over Norway, as the third-ranked team and having reached the semi-finals of both the World Cup and the European Championship under former manager Mark Sampson, his successor, Phil Neville, has simply put a tick in the acceptable box.

Lose to the United States in Lyon on Tuesday and his efforts will receive little more than a shrug of the shoulders. That may sound harsh, yet these are the ambitions England set themselves.

They came to win this World Cup. This was no empty pledge; they travelled to France convinced they were good enough to be world champions. Confidence, bordering on arrogance – there is nothing wrong with that in sport, but we are about to find out if it was misplaced.

“I think they’ve overcome different challenges, which has been the most impressive thing,” said former England forward Sue Smith, who has been covering the tournament as a pundit for the BBC.

“Every game has been different, it’s going to be tough, playing the US, that is on to another level, but the confidence and the momentum they’ve gained from the Norway game,

why can’t they beat the US? The girls believe they can, they 100 per cent believe they belong at this stage of a tournament and that is something Phil and his staff has drilled into the players.

“When I spoke to them before the tournament, they have come here to win it. There is nothing else in their mind. Sometimes teams say it, but they don’t truly believe it. That isn’t the case with this England side.

“The interesting thing is this is also the route to the final they wanted. They could have gone into the other side of the draw, which looked a little easier, but they wanted to face the US or France, they want to play in the biggest games and take on the toughest opponents. England seem to perform better against better sides.”

Smith could never have dreamed of being in an England team who were so confident in their own ability that they would be actively seeking a meeting with the previously untouchable Americans. Neither could she have imagined there would be more than 7.4 million watching on television when they won a World Cup quarter-final.

So much has changed and, for players such as Fran Kirby, there is no inferiority complex, just as there is no sense of achievement at reaching the last four. She has never played for an England team who have failed to do so.

“It’s exciting for us [to be playing the US],” she explained. “We’ve been to two semi-finals and we don’t want to feel that hurt again. We need to go one better. We need to get to that final and come away with World Cup winners’ medals. This team is on to something special. It’s really exciting to be a part of. We have to build momentum and we’re doing that game by game.”

If those in the England camp were always confident, only now is the rest of the country catching up. A defeat on Tuesday would come with the consolation of knowing there will be a British team at the Olympics next summer because England are guaranteed to be one of three best European sides, as well as a third/ fourth place play-off game in Nice.

Nevertheless, although a craving for success will have been sated, it would be like eating a doughnut with no sugar or jam. Palatable, but without a real sense of pleasure. For another of England’s famous old names, Kelly Smith, there is no reason to be worried about what the Americans can do to England. The US should be worried about what England can do to them.

Smith is widely regarded as England’s greatest player and, even if that title is under threat from Lucy Bronze, she is better placed than most to assess this team’s chances of becoming the first England side to reach a World Cup final for 53 years.

“Going into the quarter-final I didn’t believe we would be able to get past the USA,” said Smith. “But having seen the way they performed against Norway, they could potentially win this World Cup.

“The guts, belief and energy they showed has convinced me that they have what it takes. They don’t fear anyone and nor should they.”

Kelly Smith was a player before her time, an elite player in an amateur age, but she would be the first to admit that Bronze is something truly special.

“It’s very difficult to compare them,” said Sue Smith, who spent the majority of her international career playing alongside her namesake. “They are from different eras. Lucy had, by her own standards, been a little quiet in this tournament, but that phenomenal performance against Norway was something else.

“When the team needed her most, she stepped up. She is a big-game player. If you’ve got players like that, it passes on to the rest of the team. She is a world-class player, for sure, but if she wins the World Cup, you’d have to say she would be England’s best ever.”

‘We need to get to that final and come away with winners’ medals. This team is on to something special’