Alex Scott is on the verge of making her 100th appearance for England and it will be a crucial one…
England defender Alex Scott is in line to become an England centurion on Monday if Hope Powell selects her for the crucial tie against Russia at Linkoping Arena writes CATHERINE ETOE. The 28-year-old Londoner earned her first England cap against Holland in September 2004 and has been a familiar face in the England set-up since Euro 2005. If the Arsenal player does hit her ton on Monday, she hopes that there is more to celebrate after the game than her own achievement – she desperately wants to toast an England victory too. Here are her thoughts on the match and membership of the centurion club…
On the impact of the Spain defeat:
We know as a group, coming into the tournament we’ve been playing really well. We lost against Sweden but our performance against Japan we felt really confident. Maybe when our backs are against the wall we all step up and perform but we are disappointed, with all the media coverage we wanted to put on a good performance and that never happened. But we are going to regroup and hopefully on Monday we’ll put all the wrongs right.
On England’s position in the group:
We’ve been in this situation before so the panic isn’t setting in yet. We know we need to go out on Monday and get a result. It’s a must-win game for us but as a group of players, we have been in this situation before and sometimes with England we don’t do things the easy way, we like to do it the hard way so now we’ve got nothing to lose, we have to go for it Monday.
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Alex speaking to some of the press, yesterday. (Catherine Etoe)
On the match against Russia:
Even though we beat them in Euro 2009 it was a tough game so we know it isn’t going to be easy. For us it’s about what we need to do better and how we are going to get around the Russian team, because they are a good team also.
On hitting 100 caps:
It’s a squad game and Hope will be looking at what she is going to do for Monday so just because I’m on 99 caps doesn’t mean my place is guaranteed. But you know what, after Friday’s game, the 100 caps isn’t at the front of my mind, we need a win and I’d rather take the win than have the whole thing about the 100 caps because if we don’t win we know we’re going home. It’s a hard one going into the game now because yes it’s going to be a proud moment but I want to win the game, that’s the main thing.
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