Today’s episode of Lionesses: Down Under connected by EE sees Jill Scott and Kyle Walker joined by quarter-final scorers Alessia Russo and Lauren Hemp for reaction to victory over Colombia.
ALESSIA RUSSO
On scoring the winning goal in the quarter-final:
“I was buzzing. When you’re in that moment you just want to ensure it goes in the back of the net so I was really happy when it did.”
On the team’s quarter-final performance:
“There are always moments that we look at as players that we want to improve on but at this point of the tournament you just want to win and move forwards. I know we’re the forwards and we like to get in and amongst the goals, but I think the backline have been excellent throughout the tournament and it showed in moments like last night.”
On the defensive performance:
“Mary [Earps] pulled off a great save in the second half. There were loads of little moments last night where Alex [Greenwood] stepped in and got the upper hand of the strikers. You’re in a battle and it’s nice to see our centre halves come out on top.”
On playing Australia in the semi-finals:
“I think it’s what dreams are made of. The tourney so far has been so incredible. But any player left in this tournament wants to go all the way, so we know it’s going to be really tough, especially against Australia who are the host nation. It’s what you dream of as a kid, playing in these kinds of games, so I’m counting down the days now.”
LAUREN HEMP
On the quarter-final victory:
“It was such a hard game being out there. You saw at the end of the game, everyone had their hands on their knees because everyone had given absolutely everything. That’s just us as a squad, we’re so together, so relentless in everything we do, and we managed to hold them off.”
On the support Colombia had in the stadium:
“It was incredible. Even their national anthem gave me goosebumps. They had so many fans out there and it’s going to be just the same on Wednesday. But I think as players we thrive in under pressure situations like that, so it actually helped us.”
On scoring the equaliser just before half-time:
“It was important that we went into the break having scored that goal. But I think we all believed whether we’d scored or not that we were going to come out in the second half and really give it to them. There were a few tactical things we needed to improve on, but I think we really stepped up in that second half.”
On having the chance to make a World Cup final:
“Being in a World Cup final would be the dream. It’s every kids’ dream to grow up and play in major tournaments like this. We’ve got the chance to make the final, we’ll grab it with both hands. We know when we play our best football we’re unstoppable, so hopefully we’ll be able to bring that on Wednesday.”
On the test Australia present:
“They’ve been great so far. Obviously, they’re the home nation so they have so many people behind them. We have so much respect for all of their players, a lot of them play in the WSL and I play alongside them, so we know what we’re going to come up against.”
On her connection with Alessia Russo:
“Because me and Less are both quite different players, we work really well together and have a really good connection. If one of us goes one way, one goes the other. And we’re really laid back as people so we just complement each other.”
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