England manager Mark Sampson and proud new dad, flew in from paternity leave to join the Lionesses on Monday morning. We caught up with him ahead of this evening’s ‘friendly’.
Having just arrived in Tilburg and received congratulations from and shared happy ‘hellos’ with his players and colleagues, Mark Sampson kindly took the time to have a quick sit down and chat with us, ahead of today’s game.
And to get you in the mood for the match (which you can watch LIVE from 5.50pm on BBR Red Button & BBC Online) and reflect on a successful year so far, here’s what he had to say.
SK: After a busy few weeks personally, this is a big test for your team, against a tough Dutch side?
MS: Definitely, it is a big test and the type of test that we want. We’ve worked very hard off the field to give this team the best possible chance to prepare for the tournament next summer. This is the next and important step, playing an excellent and fast-improving Holland team, playing in a stadium which we’re going to come to and experience in the tournament and experiencing the country too. So we’re ticking a lot of boxes, off the field but it’s also important we get the ‘on the pitch’ stuff right. We’re in good form, we’re playing well and we want to come here and win and end the year on a high.
SK: Looking at the Netherlands loss to Belgium (3-2) a few days ago in Leuven, was that a surprise result?
MS: Not for me. If you look at the game France v Spain the other day, that was a very close game as well, which could have gone either way. I think the gap between the teams now is so small. People, I think, sometimes look at this England team and underestimate the results that we’ve got. Winning in Belgium was an excellent result, winning in Spain was an excellent result and they’re tough places to go, as Holland found out, being beaten. I don’t think that will affect this game though. I think they’ll be excited to play England, they’ll have good crowd, it’s the first time they’ve played at home in a long time, they’ve been to the U.S. and played good opponents and they’re a very fast maturing team with some talented players. This game tonight will start on the first whistle and I don’t think that Belgium result will have any impact on tonight.
SK: Netherlands have played tough opponents and have been competitive but they haven’t got the results, are they the underdogs and your side re expected to win?
MS: I think we’ve embraced that. Even the France game at home, a lot of people were disappointed we didn’t win that one and only got a draw. So we’ll go into the game confident we can win but it’s going to be very tough. A lot of the players the girls play with and train with on a daily basis and they know how talented they are individually and collectively they’ve got a very good way of playing, with good width and proper wingers who want to beat their ‘men’, so it’ll be an interesting test for us, a different type of tactical challenge which we haven’t faced for a while.
SK: They’re strong too. You mentioned in Belgium that seeing the size of their team in the line-up had ‘surprised’ you, well the Dutch side are arguably bigger again?
MS: Yeah, I remember we played them in Cyprus and [Vivianne] Miedema caused us some problems and their two wingers, one [Manon Melis] of which has retired luckily now [smiles], also caused us problems. So we’ve got our work cut out but the players are ready for it. They’re in a good s[ace at the moment in terms of their mindset and their spirit. The organisation of the team looks strong, their identity, they’ve taken on leadership, it’s been great to see them step up this week and making things happen, so we’re looking forward to it and definitely want to end the year on a high and unbeaten.
SK: You mention that unbeaten run, is the result key for you in this game?
MS: I think the result is key in every game for us. Every friendly we’ve played since I’ve come in we’ve treated seriously. It’s interesting in football that we call it a ‘friendly’ but in rugby they call it a ‘test match’, so that’s how we look at it really, as a ‘test match’. We’re playing a team that are going to be there, look at the draw and there’s a chance that England could play Holland in the latter stage of the European Championship, so we want to make sure we get a feel for our opponent, for the atmosphere and put down a marker that we’re the better team.
SK: You also mentioned Miedema, a fantastic striking talent, the sort of player you’d love to have in your squad, especially when you consider that one of the issues you have had this year is in the forward department, with injuries to certain players, has that been a negative in the development of the team?
MS: In a strange way it’s probably been a positive because we’ve come through it. If you took Jodie Taylor and Fran Kirby away from any international team for a whole qualification campaign, they’d find it difficult. Fran has played a few minutes against Estonia, Jodie hasn’t played at all. Great to have Jodie back now, obviously towards the latter part of the campaign we missed Ellen White as well. So in that part of the pitch there’ve been opportunities for other players and they’ve stepped in and done well. Nikita Parris and Dan Carter have come in and shown they can play at this level. There’s also been the chance to look ways of playing, different system and way to score goals. Hopefully now we’ll see the likes off Karen Carney – who’s playing really well at the moment – in a more forward, advanced role, to cause problems for this good Dutch team.
SK: If you can, before the last game, can you sum up how 2016 been for you?
MS: Overall we’ve got to look at it as a positive year. To only have been beaten by the top two teams in the world in Germany and USA. Got to look at that and say we’ve done pretty well and we’ve experienced things that we wanted to. The qualification group was tough, people underestimated Belgium who will be a big force this summer, I think. We had the SheBelieves Cup, we played France in friendlies. It’s been a positive year for us in terms of experiences. We’ve scored a lot of goals, haven’t conceded many, and now we’ve got this really good run in terms of results. So, I think as a group we’ve grown, we’re a much better team than what we were a year ago, which is the most important thing. And the exciting part now is that we’ve still got a long way to go. We’ve got some good foundations in place, so we can kick on and get ourselves into a place where we’re ready to win.
SK: You’ve just joined back up with the squad for the game, is it an important skill or quality to have as a coach with a successful team, to be able to delegate and trust your staff?
MS: Absolutely. And also this team has great ownership, with some fantastic leaders. I think things have run as normal, which is a credit to the players and the staff, that I haven’t been needed. So I have to thank the staff and the players for the support they have given me and my family.
Netherlands v England
Koning Willem II Stadion, Tilburg
Women’s Friendly International
6pm (GMT), Tuesday 29 November
WATCH LIVE ON BBC RED BUTTON OR BBC ONLINE
