Women’s World Cup 2019: Underdogs no more, England can rattle USA from opening minute in semi-final
The Independent's World Cup columnist looks ahead to England's titanic showdown against the defending champions
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Your support makes all the difference.In the last ten minutes of USA’s victory over France, there was a scared look on their players’ faces. They were under the cosh and teetering after Wendie Renard’s goal. Jill Ellis, their manager, told the press that you either live or die under pressure. Against France, ultimately, they survived but how will they handle it when England come out the blocks from the very first minute?
The USA may be slight favourites with some people, but I don’t think England are the underdogs in this game by any stretch, nor will the players think they are. In fact, right now, the dressing room will be on cloud nine.
We’d seen glimpses throughout the tournament so far of what the girls are capable of and against Norway it was like a jigsaw being put together. It wasn’t a faultless performance, but it was definitely the best so far. We had a much better flow to our build-up play, there was more quality on the ball and we didn’t lose control of the game for any significant periods as we’d done previously.
There were some exceptional moments. Ellen White was fantastic again; I’ve always been a massive fan of her style of play and, in the past, I don’t think she’s got enough credit for what she does. I think she’s answered the No 9 dilemma, which was one of the big questions for Phil Neville because Jodie Taylor is such a quality player. The competition for places has brought the best out of them and Ellen has proved to be one of the MVPs of the World Cup.
Lucy Bronze was untouchable against Norway. I think it’s always been a bit of a headache for any manager to select the winger in front of her because Lucy is so strong at going forward. A lot of coaches would be inclined to pick a more intricate player with less pace than Nikita Parris, who can unpick the space for Lucy to drive into, but against Norway they complemented each other so well.
Perhaps Nikita held herself back a little bit at the start of the tournament, not always bursting forwards, but it was like she’d been on charge for five days and exploded into life, taking on a more inside role and every time the ball went down that flank you felt we could score.
Lucy’s proved that she’s the best right-back in the world. Before the tournament some may have said Marion Torrent was the outstanding player in that position, but I think we’ve all seen that that was never the case. It’s not always the obvious choice to pick a defender as the world’s best player, but Lucy delivers so much going forward. She inspires the players around her and if she’s able to replicate her performance against Norway there’s no reason why she can’t be seen as the pinnacle of the sport.
I always felt England would peak at the right time. At the start of the tournament people were saying we looked dodgy in defence or on the transition. Granted, people can only analyse the game they’ve seen but it’s what happens in the dark, the before and after, that is just as important and it’s a credit to Phil and the coaching staff how the team have answered any criticism and grown game-by-game.
When the USA thrashed Thailand 13-0 we all thought ‘wow, here we go again’, but I haven’t seen anything from them since that’s really made my eyes light up. At least not like England did against Norway.
The USA are always going to be dangerous, they’re the defending champions and we’ll have to be a bit more tactically astute. There is so much hunger and such huge momentum about the England team at the moment, it’s like they’re on a train that’s propelling forward, but you’ve got to slow down and focus on the tiny details that can win a game like this.
I think the USA will struggle with our pace up front, particularly from Ellen and Nikita, so I think we’ll see a slightly more direct style of play. We need to be a bit more reserved, wait for our moments and then burst into life.
The game will be won or lost in the No 4 and No 10 roles. The link-up play between Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan was unstoppable at times against France, but if you’re able to nullify that you can negate a huge aspect of their attack. Likewise, Julie Ertz dictates the pace of the game and pressing her high up the field is pivotal because it stops the USA from being able to play out of the back.
I don’t think England are the underdogs in this game. Just as Ellis said, it’s about who can thrive under pressure and who can rise to the occasion on the night. And, for England, I think this semi-final has come at the perfect time.
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