Hear from the star of the night, hat trick scorer and Player of the Match, Dan Carter…
Imagine you scored a hat trick on your England debut. You’ve expect to wake up afterwards, wouldn’t you?
So… imagine doing it again in the return game against the same opposition, one year on, in only your second appearance. You’d definitely expect to wake up after that, wouldn’t you?
We’re spelling it out again because it’s such a phenomenal achievement. We’ve racked out brains and other than Bayern Munich’s Dutch wunderkind Vivienne Miedema, who scored two hat tricks in her first three games (pretty impressive too!) we can’t think of another player to have done something similar in competitive European football, if not further afield.
So, what was the reaction of the goal getter, Arsenal striker Dan Carter, at the centre of all of this? Did it feel like her birthday [once a year getting a match ball etc.]?
It’s just unbelievable. The first time I was lost for words but this time I genuinely don’t know what to say. I’m just happy that we got the three points and we sent the fans off with a good, last, home performance.
Are you going to look at the fixtures to see when we’ll next play Estonia?
Yeah, I’m going to request it every campaign! No, whomever gets put in front of me and I get the opportunity to play for my country I’m going to try and score as many and get the win for us.
Mark Sampson was very complimentary about your performance and how you have got your head down and worked hard to get back into his plans, can you tell us a bit about what you have had to do?
Well, obviously it’s been a long road and he’s got a lot of players to choose from and he’s right to choose whomever he wants to choose. But I’ve just been doing well at my club, when I got brought in last training camp I’ve just been trying to impress him. Throughout the whole year I’ve been trying to impress him at my club and waiting for my opportunity again.
Does it make you more determined when you get on the field to make sure he keeps selecting you?
I can just do what I can do on the pitch. He doesn’t have to choose me just because I scored three goals, there’s a lot more to work on behind closed doors which we’ve all spoken about. I know what I need to do to remain in his plans and if I can do that then hopefully I can remain in an England shirt.
WATCH DAN’S BACK TO BACK HAT TRICK HERE:
Was it nice playing alongside Keets [Parris] up front?
Yeah, obviously me and Keets have come through the youth ranks , so it was nice to make our ‘senior debut together’ so to speak. We play well together, we play off each other’s games, hopefully there’s many more.
Three is a great tally but you could have had more?
100%. Me individually, and the whole team, we could have probably won about 10-0, I could have scored about ten myself, to be fair. But we need to go back on the training field and work on that now, so that in other games we are more clinical and ruthless in front of goal.
Have you had to work harder at Arsenal to up your intensity?
I’d probably have to say yes to that. Each year, every season you want to improve. So if you remain the same you’re not going to progress any further. So I’d have to say I’ve worked harder this year, the same I’ll be working harder next year and the year after that.
Just a word about the U17WWC coming up at the end of the month and the England squad heading out there – you had that experience, getting to the semi-finals, in 2008 in NZ – any advice?
Yeah, a few of the Arsenal girls I’ve already spoken to, Lotte [Wubben-Moy] in particular. I told them to enjoy it. That’s the one trip, the U17s World Cup in New Zealand that I can remember everything about. It was the first time we went away for so long and it was by far the best trip I’ve had in an England shirt. There’s a lot of memories you’re going to make on that trip, I told them, so it’s all about enjoying it. If you enjoy it off the pitch and enjoy it on the pitch then you’re going to make history like we did.
You’re in the senior squad now with 6 or 7 players from that side, it just shows how you can make that progress?
Yeah, again 100%. We always got told in the youth groups that if you work hard and do the right thing you’re going to make it in the senior level, you’ve just got to be patient.
It just takes longer for some than others?
Yeah. It’s different times. Everyone’s got a different rise, a different come-up, you’ve just got to be patient and when you get the opportunity you’ve got to grab it.
