After all the hype surrounding Monday’s squad announcement ahead of Euro 2017, England now gets back down to the serious business of preparing for the tournament on the pitch rather than off it.
Mark Sampson’s Lionesses face Italy on Friday night followed by a match against Austria on Monday, April 10 — ranked 19th and 24th, respectively — and the pair will form England’s last two home games before a friendly in Switzerland a month before the tournament starts.
Italy has fallen three places down the rankings in the last month after 3-0, 4-1, and 6-0 defeats in the Cyprus Cup while Austria failed to defend their title and lost 3-1 to Scotland in their final group game.
But it’s not just a big week for the opposition, England are embarking on their sixth and seventh matches of the year and have so far found the net just twice in the previous five, with Ellen White and Jordan Nobbs responsible for the goals.
Putting the ball in the back of net has been a big issue for Sampson’s side of late but the manager has called in several new players to his squad despite his Euro squad now announced.
Both Sophie Baggaley and Hannah Blundell have been in the squad before but haven’t made their debuts while Melissa Lawley and Jess Carter are with the team for the first time, and Sampson is pleased to be able to bring in new players.
“I’m delighted for the two girls who are coming in for the first time, both have earned the right to join this team,” he said.
“They’ll help us prepare for these two games and it shows the trust we have in those four players because these are massive games for us; we’re willing to put them in a position potentially where they come in to help us win.”
Attacker Toni Duggan echoed her manager’s statement and praised her new Manchester City teammate Lawley for the progress made over the last year.
“We’re racking them up now,” laughed Duggan, regarding the number of City players in the squad.
“There could be a few more from City to be honest, but Mel’s been brilliant and I knew what she was capable of playing against her at Birmingham.
“There’s no doubt she’s got ability, her pace and the way she dribbles, she’s so talented. Now it’s the perfect chance for her to show she can do it at this level too.”
Meanwhile, captain Steph Houghton is just looking forward to getting back on the pitch and sees the two games as practice for what they will come up against in July.
“The two teams are maybe a bit similar to Spain and Portugal, what we’re trying to do is replicate what we might come up against at the Euro’s.
“Now that focus starts, we have that winning mentality and everyone wants to take their chance to be on the team sheet against Scotland.”
Houghton’s fellow defender Alex Scott is also waiting in anticipation for the games to come around and believes it will be good to experience a different kind of challenge to what the Lionesses have come up against so far this year.
“This is a great test for us,” said Scott. “We’re not expected to win when we come up against the U.S. or Germany so this is a different pressure and a different incentive.”
She added, “These teams want to prove a point so it will be a challenge and we know we have to perform in order to win.”
Laura Bassett has been a periphery figure in the past 12 months as Sampson continues to move forward with his 3-5-2 system, but the experienced center back made a return to the starting eleven in the SheBelieves Cup as Sampson reverted to four at the back against the United States.
Bassett also kept her place for the defeat to Germany which ended England’s hopes of winning the tournament and now the 33-year-old is keen to go out this week and help get the squad two wins under their belts.
“I think they’re brilliant opposition to play at this stage,” said the defender. “Both sides can cause us problems but our focus has to be to go out and win — we want to be hard to beat and have a tough mentality.
“We know we’re work in progress, we’re working on set pieces, and working on other things but we want to come through these games with big ticks next to our names.”