GK Lizzie Durack tells us about the midweek pre-tournament routine and time off up a huge tower.
It’s been a few days since the last blog so I’ve got lots of news from inside the camp to update everyone on. 
So we have now been in camp a whole week and here in Toronto for five days. The middle days of this week (Tuesday and Wednesday) were spent knuckling down into some of our hardest training sessions of the whole tournament. Once the official games start, there isn’t too much time for intense training sessions because recovery takes priority so we have to maximise this valuable time we have before we head to Moncton (where our first two games are).
Without going into too much detail, these busi.JPG)
ness-like days consist of a fairly routine schedule: wake up, pee into a jar, weigh in, breakfast, down-time, lunch, pre-training meeting, training, pool and ice, dinner, sleep! And then back to step 1 and repeat! (You may wonder why we are all peeing into jars, but it is one of the lovely jobs our sports scientist has to make sure we are not getting dehydrated).
Thursday was quite a bit different, because we played a friendly against host nations Canada. This was our official rehearsal for our first game against South Korea, so we were in complete game day mode. The game was played at 6pm, so we had a lot of time during the day to get through our schedule of breakfast, a walk and stretch, unit meetings, pre-match meal and then travelling to the ground. (For those of you who are wondering, “units” are what we call the defenders, midfielders and forwards). On game days, and at various times throughout the trip, we will have unit specific meetings with our coaches to closely address more specific tactical aspects relevant only to the defenders, midfielder or forwards.
We played a full 90 minute game with a penalty shoot out at the end to give us some practice just in case we have to face a penalty shoot out during the tournament. The game ended 0-0 and we won 4-3 on penalties! All twenty-one players in the squad got game time, and it was a very positive thing to see the depth of quality we have throughout our squad! It’s definitely going to be competitive to get game time. As with all games we play, the players in the squad that don’t get more than 45 minutes game time do what we call a blowout. A blowout is basically football specific fitness, managed by our sports scientist, done at the end of the game to make sure everyone has had enough intense exercise for that day.
Today (Friday) was our official day-off! This meant putting our football boots to one side in the morning and getting into tourist mode. After pool and ice recovery after breakfast, we all piled onto the bus and headed into downtown Toronto for lunch and to visit the famous CN Tower. Here are some photos of us exploring the 1800-foot high building!
In the evening, it was time to review and analyse yesterday’s game from an individual, unit and team perspective. In terms of individual analysis, we all watch our individual video clips (that our wonderful video analysts Emma and Tom put together) and report back to the coaches the things we thought we personally did well and the things we could do better. Then later on, we watch a large chunk of the game again together as units and discuss aspects of the game that need adjustment from our unit’s perspective. It’s a very important process that ensures everyone on the team is making positive steps throughout the tournament as well as making sure that we are all on the same tactical page.
That’s about it from our time in Canada’s largest city, Toronto! Very early tomorrow morning, we fly out to Moncton where we will be playing our first two group games against South Korea and Mexico. 
See you in Moncton!
Yours in football,
The England U20s Women’s Football Team
@LizzieDfootball
Question: Do you encounter players from other teams in and around your training camp?
Answer: While we are in our preparation phase in Toronto, we are completely separate from any other team in the tournament as this phase of the trip is organised specifically by our team for the needs of our team, so we have had no contact with other teams except for the game we played against Canada. Once we get to Moncton, we will be staying in a hotel with the three other teams in our group (South Korea, Mexico and Nigeria), so obviously we will be seeing them quite a lot day to day.
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