The England Women’s Head Coach Hope Powell, recently made an OBE, has named her squad for Saturday 19 June World Cup Qualifier in Aranda de Duero, Spain. The squad is made up of the same 22 players who had a 6-0 victory in Malta last month.
Saturday’s game will be a pivotal moment in the qualification campaign. A victory would leave England close to a play-off place. Spain and England are both nine points clear at the top of Group 5, although England have a game in hand on their Iberian counterparts.
“It makes our case a lot easier to manage,” said Powell, of this scenario, “but we won’t get carried away. We are focused on getting a good result against Spain and then we’ll take it from there.
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“We know it’s going to be a tough game. The last time we played them we got the result we wanted although it was a very tight game. I wasn’t surprised by the way they played and we expect a similar style again.
“They’re at home which will be to their advantage and we just have to be as well prepared as we usually are. We have to counter any of their strategies and try and get the result we want.”
In preparation, Powell took the squad to La Manga to acclimatise to the hot weather.
“It was a really good week,” said Powell, of the time spent in La Manga. “It was very competitive, which is what we required. The conditions are considerably warmer than they are in England, so to have to opportunity to train in these conditions could be invaluable. At the moment it’s so far, so good, but the real work starts on Monday.”
The whole squad, including the American contingent, will spend the next week preparing for the game.
Chloe Hibbert, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine
Image credit: (c)iStockphoto.com
