IAN HERBERT: England look ready to go all the way in the Women's World Cup
autty 2023-08-06 06:07:03 评论
Though the heavens finally opened here last night, the England squad’s Australia experience has so far resembled that of a British summer, with warmth beyond all expectation.
They have the look and feel of a team at home on the other side of the world, too — cocooned amid the Norfolk Pines, lagoons and sandy beaches of Terrigal, an hour or so north of Sydney, and finely attuned to their landscape.
‘Welcome to the land of the Darkinjung people,’ states the sign the FA have placed for visitors at their base, referencing the land’s indigenous roots.
The tournament has been equally accommodating. There are distinct echoes of the men’s team’s route to the 2018 World Cup semi-final, with Germany and Brazil, either of whom they could have faced in the quarters, now safely eliminated.
Progress against 40th-ranked Nigeria in Brisbane tomorrow and they will face either Colombia (25th) or Jamaica (45th) in a Sydney quarter-final. Not exactly the kind of venom you’d find at the spider rooms of the nearby Reptile Park.
But the new terrain does create a new psychological challenge. England know they will never forgive themselves if they forsake this chance.
Even a possible semi-final against Australia offers optimism, given the host nation — beaten by Nigeria last week — are so emotionally fixated on the totemic Sam Kerr that her fitness is the nation’s best kept secret.
‘You’d need a Freedom of Information Act to procure meaningful details,’ a correspondent at The Australian lamented.
In short, this feels for England precisely what last summer’s European Championship was — the chance of a lifetime to give women’s football within our shores its greatest boost.
There are landmines ahead, of course. Nigeria bring the same dynamism and speed on the break that caused England problems against Haiti in their first game.
Necessity has been the mother of invention since injury to the pivotal Keira Walsh in the second match against Denmark, prompting the new three-at-the-back formation which brought a new unpredictability and added attacking width against China.
The beneficiary of Walsh’s misfortune is Manchester United’s Katie Zelem, her friend of 15 years. To look Zelem in the eyes as she related how she thought all hopes of a role here had gone after omission from England’s April friendlies, was to know she is a very good individual for this moment. A 27-year-old who will not die wondering whether she could have given it more.
The 10-minute discussion with Zelem also offered a reminder of how England’s outlook has changed in the four years since Phil Neville took them to the semi-final against the USA.
Back then, they were trying so hard to believe him when he told them to believe in themselves. Nikita Parris declared then: ‘Nobody fears America. I don’t fear America and I don’t think my team-mates do.’
There is a calmer, unspoken, more innate form of self-confidence now. USA, who many feel will be dumped out by Sweden, really aren’t a source of fear.
But Wiegman’s players are comfortable enough in their own skin not to feel the need to say so.
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