England v Scotland in World Cup opener

THE gasps around La Seine Musicale told you everything. England v Scotland in the first Group D game of the Women’s World Cup on June 9. Argentina and the 2011 winners Japan make up the group, while defending champions USA have been matched with Sweden for the sixth successive time in more than 24 years.

England are captained by Steph Houghton (left) and manager Phil Neville said: ‘On the flight over I had a funny feeling in my stomach that we would draw Scotland. I went to watch them play USA recently and they were very good. We can draw inspiration from what the men did in Russia. Gareth Southgate has helped foster a good spirit around St George’s Park and we can feed off that.’

His Scottish counterpart Shelley Kerr said: ‘England may be our nearest rivals geographically but we must not lose focus on the rest of the group.

‘Yes the players know each other really well but we know every game will be tough.’

Another Scot involved in the draw is veteran Tom Sermanni who, after much success with Australia and USA, now leads New Zealand, who have drawn Canada, Holland and Cameroon.

‘We will start as underdogs but the women’s game is growing so fast in terms of skill and preparation that you never know what might happen,’ he said. ‘This will be the best ever Women’s World Cup, of that there is no doubt.’