Duggan: Marines trip gave us a lift
England’s Toni duggan revealed yesterday that the huge weight of expectation about the imminent World Cup campaign has been put into perspective by a motivational session with the Royal Marines.
duggan, the Barcelona forward on whom so many of England’s hopes rest when the campaign kicks off against scotland on June 9, said her discussions with Marines about the pressure of being in afghanistan after the Twin Towers came down and the ‘stuff they had to do’ was a reality check. ‘We kick a ball around,’ she said.
Time spent with the Marines on Wednesday, followed by a night sleeping in two-sided tents open to the elements, has clearly had a strong effect on the team ethic, as Phil neville’s players prepare for their penultimate warm- up match against denmark tomorrow.
‘It was two in a tent,’ said duggan, 27. ‘It wasn’t even a tent really. We had to build that ourselves. I was in with [Manchester City’s] Keira Walsh. I sat around the firepit with the Marines for ages just chatting all night about all different experiences, about being a leader, under pressure. and who better to learn from? They’re getting bombs fired at them, guns shot at them. Wow.’
The sell- out match at Walsall against the danes, ranked 17 in the world, ruled out any potential Marines obstacle course for neville’s squad. But the exercise for the players, who had to hand in their mobile phones, included drills hauling soldiers on to stretchers in a rescue exercise and camp-fire cooking, heating packets of sausage casserole and curry in pans over the fire. There was also a recall exercise in which the squad, split into four groups, had to remember items they had seen the previous evening. They succeeded, which meant a forfeit for the Marines.
Working with the Marines has become a staple part of tournament preparation for England squads in the last four years. Mark sampson’s women’s team were the first to benefit before the 2015 World Cup in which they reached the semi-finals.
The then Under 21 men’s manager gareth southgate became aware of that and put his senior team through a Marines assault course before last summer’s World Cup. so did the England Under 20 women last year.
City’s georgia stanway and Ellie Roebuck have both graduated from that squad to Phil neville’s 23 for France.
sampson’s England went into the 2015 tournament with players whose physical readiness varied because some of the country’s club sides were not professional. But the investment in the women’s game in the past four years means that the squad, which includes seven City players, are all at a high level of physical fitness.
‘They all have the support, the gym work, the nutrition, the training facilities now. It’s all there,’ said alex scott, one of the BBC commentary team in France, who played in the 2015 tournament. ‘so now, going into the England environment, there are no excuses.’
scott believes England can win the tournament, though the Usa are many bookies’ favourites, with hosts France also highly fancied. neville’s side are fourth favourites behind germany.
England’s lucy Bronze, 27, a member of the lyon side who beat duggan’s Barcelona in last weekend’s Champions league said: ‘The goal is for the gold. The goal is to make the final. I don’t see why we can’t make it.
‘ We’ve got a really talented bunch of young players. I think my age group was the hard-working age group and now we’ve got this group of players who are really confident.
‘They’re not scared of anything.’