The coach, the GK, the skipper & the goalscorer…a word from each on an historic win for England in the USA…
What a night.
A tremendous performance from England, a joy to witness and a result to celebrate (1-0, if you missed it – check the news for the report). It is a historic landmark result in that it included the first England goal against the USA on U.S. soil as well as the first win against USWNT on U.S. soil, the first win in a She Believes Cup game and it feels like a defining result that signals a step up to the next level for the Lionesses.
Perhaps we are a bit giddy and it would also be ignorant to dismiss the contribution of the USA to an enjoyably combative and lively encounter (Rose Lavelle, Mal Pugh & Lindsey Horan are class young players and Lloyd & Mewis again showed class) but this was an England performance of grit, maturity and quality. We feel lucky to have to witnessed it (even if it was -8 or worse). So here’s the reaction from coach and players.
(Link to the Audioboom podcast of these interviews, is at the bottom of the page.)
First up is…
Head Coach Mark Sampson:
On being strong from back to front:
Not just the goalkeeper to the front but the goalkeeper to the 23rd player tonight. It was a real squad effort to get over the line and it’s got to be to beat America. There’s not many teams that do that. They’ve got a very proud home record so to come here and win, it was an important result for us. I’m just really proud of the team because on the back of that France defeat we had a lot of criticism for the way in which we conceded a late goal, the manner of it but we were also aware of some big positives in that game and we could be sitting here on six points now. But we pride ourselves on our learning mindset, our work ethic and now we’re starting to really find a winning mentality and when you have a combination of those three, this team is going to be dangerous. We showed all of those qualities over the last few three days: our ability to bounce back, learn some lessons, work hard to execute what has been learned and then showed our winning mentality tonight to find a way to win.
On having willingly taken the hit for decisions made which perhaps affected the outcome v France, and this time making decisions that likely won the game against USA:
A coach is always dependent on his players, tonight the players have fronted up. I could have put any system on the park today and they would have worked hard, they would have managed the game, covered the spaces defensively and looked to exploit the space with the ball. We know how we want to do it and I thought they were outstanding, from 1 to 23, the intensity and work ethic really shone through. The way in which we managed the game, that’s real football and how you win these big games.
On whether it’s one of the best performances under his tenure:
It’s the best result, I won’t deny that. It’s frustrating for us because, sometimes in sport, we do a lot of work on building belief. Our players are perfectionists, sometimes when you’re a perfectionist you can concentrate too much on what you can do better and not on what you do well and you can only build belief so far until you get a big result. I’ve spoken to the players a number of times and I genuinely feel we’re only scratching the surface. It’s taken us two years to get the platform, build foundations, and now we’re scratching that surface we had to get a big result. We had to win one of the games in this tournament to see how far this team can go. I think this result can be a platform for when we move forward now.
We had 14 shots on goal, we had more shots on target than America, this is not a smash and grab result, the last team to win here were China. They came here and got bashed and nicked the 1-0. We didn’t get bashed, we stayed in the game, were strong and earned the win and we deserved to win.
On possibly going on to win the She Believes Cup:
We’re in position. At the start of the tournament, we wanted to treat it like a European Championship group [it’d be a bl**dy tough World Cup group this one mind!] and when we lost the first game we knew we couldn’t lose the second, you have to get a positive result. So we played that mindset. In the Euros, faced with knock out football, like today was for us – we lose and we’re out – you’ve got to find a way to win because there’s no ‘tomorrow game’. And that’s what the players did. I’m sure France and the U.S. will have some squeaky bums watching us play Germany, so if we can turn up and front up, put in a performance like we did tonight, there’s no reason why we can’t put six points on the board and see who can overtake us.
On whether he got frostbite watching the game:
I’m sweating. The opposite!
The safe hands, Siobhan Chamberlain:
On whether she enjoyed it:
Now I can feel my face again. It was great. It was a fantastic performance by the whole team and the whole squad, the subs came on and made an impact as well, it’s a great feeling to beat the no.1 team in the world.
On making some big saves, particularly in the first half:
I’m not really too sure I knew too much about it, to be fair but that’s what you’re in there to do and fortunately enough I made the saves and you work hard day in day out on the training pitch and when you get the opportunity you’ve got to try and take it with both hands. Hopefully I did that today.
On playing in North America in front of big home crowds:
Yeah, I think I kind of enjoy them booing at me because they do that quite a bit…in Canada and now America! Seem to be turning it into a little bit of a habit! Everyone wants to play in the big games, in front of huge crowds and fantastic atmospheres and to play against the no.1 in the world, on their home soil and to get the win and to get the clean sheet, it’s fantastic. You’ve got to go out there wanting to play and wanting to enjoy it. Yeah, you get a bit nervous before a game but I know personally if I’m not nervous before a game, then there’s something wrong. But as soon as you’re on the pitch, you enjoy it and do what you always do.
On the performance of the players in front of her and if there was a confident calmness:
Yeah I think everyone was pretty calm. Especially the last few minutes after we scored the goal, I don’t think the timer went up so no-one knew how much time she was going to play, so that was a bit ‘backs to the wall’ and we made a few changes but I think the back line defended extremely well and even from the front we defended well. The forwards put in such a shift, the midfield, and throughout the whole team we stuck the game plan, stuck to our jobs and got the reward at the end.
On how she celebrated the goal:
I kind of wanted to go and join in but I figured it was far too far to get back again, so I waited to the final whistle and then joined in!
And the captain fantastic Steph Houghton:
On what a difference a few days make:
Yeah, looking back now to how much we were hurting after the France game, it was tough to take but we have reacted in an unbelievable way and credit to the whole squad because we really have grafted over the last two days in terms of our preparation and putting in a performance like that. You don’t come here and expect it to be easy but I think we really earned our right to play our football and were really hard to break down as well.
On how a result like this proves that they can walk the walk as well as talk the talk:
Yeah, coming out here was all about enjoying our football, being as physical as we possibly can but also when got the ball it was about doing good things with it. I really thought our composure on the ball at times, remaining calm when there were 25,000 Americans screaming for them to score, I thought we showed a lot of maturity in our game today.
On whether that was one of her favourite games as the captain of England:
Yeah, to come here and beat the best team in the world. First and foremost we wanted to come here and compete and over the two games that we’ve played we’ve definitely shown that we can do that.
On whether she had a word with Carl Lloyd after the game:
[Laughs] I just said it’s a bit cold like this in Manchester. I’m excited for her to come and join us and hopefully it’s the start of more good things for us at City.
On the short sleeved shirt:
I’m a northerner so…and I’m a bit superstitious as well. I’m not really a long sleeved type of girl. I’m a centre half, ‘apparently’, so I’ve got to be a bit hard. However, my fingers were nearly dropping off by the end!
And the goalscorer Ellen White:
On her goal:
Corner came in, unbelievable strike by Lucy Bronze, it hit the cross bar, I think Jodie [Taylor] then runs in, it’s a potential penalty (I’m not saying it should have been…it might have been *she means it*), she kind of crossed paths, there were a few bodies jumping in and the ball pounced perfectly for me – poachers goal, as they say – and I smashed it into the roof of the net. There’s no better feeling. And a set piece as well, so our GK coach will be very happy with that!
On her goal celebration:
Basically, me and my husband are big fans of the German league and my favourite player for Cologne, his celebration is ‘that’, so my husband was in the crowd today and that was for him.
On Americans usually like the Ellen Show, maybe not tonight:
Ha ha! To be honest it’s not about me, it’s about the squad. Everyone put on a fantastic performance for the full 95 minutes but I was really pleased to come on, as was Jodie, to make an impact up front, a bit of energy, get the ball in their half, I’m really happy to have got the goal but the three points were what we wanted, to potentially win this tournament.
On the big game against Germany coming up:
We love a big game against Germany. That’s our bread and butter. We had the disappointment against France, now we have the win against USA and we want to use that confidence and momentum going into Germany and to potentially get that win. We’re looking forward to it and to Washington and another city to go and visit for us as well.
On the U23s beating the USA today as well, it’s a cl
I’m really proud because a lot of Birmingham players did really well in that, so it’s a clean sweep and we’re very happy with that. It just shows the development through the ranks.
Images: Robyn McNeil/SheKicks
