England face France this evening in their final group game of Euro 2013 and manager Hope Powell is praying that the team finally click.
There will be changes, but we’ll have to wait until nearer kick off to discover what they will be. Whatever the line-up, Powell and her midfielder Fara Williams told the press tonight that they will do their level best to get the win they and women’s football fans across England so desperately crave. Here is what they had to say at Wednesday evening’s press conference…
England manager Hope Powell on the need to make changes:
There will be changes tomorrow but [situation so far] isn’t through lack of effort. We have to get something out of the game, otherwise we’ll be going home. I can’t fault the effort, it’s just not clicking for us at this moment in time. Please God it does tomorrow.
On drawing on the Olympic spirit:
I think it’s just about remaining positive. We showed true fighting spirit in both games. We know we are not performing but we know we have that spirit. If we combine that with hopefully a better performance tomorrow who knows. The idea is we want to stay in this competition right now and we are in a fight and we know that.
On the build up:
Certainly in the last couple of years we’ve done really well, we’ve stamped our mark on women’s football globally if you include the Olympics in that and the games before that we haven’t lost. It’s just unfortunate that we’ve come to a major tournament and the expectation sometimes is you should be there or thereabouts at the end. But it’s a tough tournament, we’ve not performed, we know that by our own admission we’ve just got to try and turn up tomorrow and hope it clicks and works.
On producing their best performances when they need to:
I hope [we do]. If we don’t perform and win I’ll be happy. The idea is we want to stay in the tournament. The girls are working really hard to make sure that tomorrow we can start the tournament properly and do well. If we do, hopefully we’ll get the result and we will stay. One thing I will say is it hasn’t been because of lack of effort. Everybody has given 110 per cent.
On France team:
Very good. They back themselves to go all the way. They are high on confidence. They have already got out of the group, I don’t think that will have any bearing on the way they play tomorrow, they will want to get maximum points and come out and win the game so we know what to expect and but certainly we’ll give it a good go.
On the importance of this game personally:
I want to stay in the tournament. It’s about everyone involved, the opportunity to go again, getting out of the group. For me personally, I’m still here, I’m still in the role and have a job to do and I intend to do it.
On the way the third places are decided:
Those are the rules and we’ll abide by the rules. I think if we are pulled out of the hat then I’ll be happy, if not then I probably won’t. First and foremost we’ve got to play the game, we want to win the game more importantly, but if the rules are the rules – we know them coming into the tournament and we have to accept them. Is it fair? I don’t know if fair comes into it. When it’s a 12-team tournament you have to at some point make a decision about who goes through and who doesn’t. The encouraging thing is the next tournament it will be 16 teams and this won’t happen again.
On Kelly Smith playing a part:
We don’t know until tomorrow. We have to wait until the game. That’s with all the players on the bench.
On France resting players:
I think they will go out and want to win the game. Who they play, we have an idea, but some of the players have played in different positions, some have started, some haven’t.
England midfielder Fara Williams on the players’ reactions to the tournament:
We’ve got an honest bunch of girls and the staff are honest with us and we know as a team we haven’t performed but we know we can and we’ve got a lot to come so going into tomorrow’s game the girls are very focused and positive. We’ll take positives from the Russia game which we have done and we know tomorrow is a must win.
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