The England coach, Mark Sampson, has urged his side to lay down a marker against Germany and secure a major psychological boost in preparation for next year’s World Cup.
England play Germany, the European champions, at Wembley on Sunday in front of 55,000 spectators, although the attendance could have been higher had the Football Association not capped sales because two tube lines serving the stadium are down this weekend.
The large crowd represents the significant progress made by the women’s game in recent years and Sampson said his squad had been “delighted and amazed” as the number of tickets sold rose rapidly earlier this month.
However, while the coach is fully aware of the significance of the occasion – England women’s first match at the new Wembley – he will urge his side to use the game as vital preparation for next year’s World Cup in Canada. England have not beaten Germany in 19 attempts, losing 17 of those matches, and although they are the underdogs on Sunday Sampson believes his side can pull off an upset.
“This team have got enough talent to really compete next summer,” he said. “I think the players are excited by that, they want to make sure between now and then they work hard so that when they cross the white line in Canada they can give a good account of themselves and cause some upsets.
“We know what we’re facing. We’re probably facing the best team in the world and we hope to be there with them in the latter stages of the World Cup. We feel that we are in a position where we are able to compete with these teams. Whether we’ll win or not we’ll find out.
“But we’re going to go for it, play our way and we hope that if we can produce a near-perfect performance we can win this game. We have quality players but it’s going to be a challenge.”
It is comfortably the biggest crowd in history for an England women’s international match, the previous record set during Euro 2005 when the game with Finland at the Etihad Stadium was watched by 29,092.
Sampson added: “If we hadn’t have got a good crowd it could have been a backward step but the public have come out in force and have shown their love of the game. To get one of the biggest crowds of the world this year in women’s football is a big achievement.”
Karen Carney is due to receive her 100th cap but doubts over England’s ability to end their hoodoo against Germany remain. The Germans emerged triumphant when the two sides met in the final of Euro 2009 and Silvia Neid’s side are regarded as serious contenders for next year’s world title.
Jill Scott, the attacker who played in that fixture, admits that “no game against them is a friendly match” and is expecting a strong and physical challenge at Wembley.
“All these games are preparation for the World Cup next year and it’s fantastic that we’ve got so many people there to replicate the atmosphere that we are going to face in Canada. We’ve been trying different formations so hopefully this will be a game where we can test them,” said Scott.
“Germany are strong and physical. I remember lining up for that Euro final, I’m one of the tallest in our squad but they were a lot bigger than me. They are all like that. Hopefully we can match their physicality and try to play football around them.
“We’ve usually sat back and defended against them because we know how tough they are going to be, but under Mark we are a lot more attacking and we’ve tried a few different formations out. Hopefully we can surprise them and come up with something new.”
Probable starting XIs
England 4-3-3: Bardsley; A Scott, Houghton, Bassett, Stokes; Nobbs, Williams, Carney; Sanderson, Duggan, Aluko. Subs from Chamberlain, Telford, Bronze, Greenwood, Rafferty, Moore, Potter, J Scott, Clarke, Kirby, Smith, Taylor.
Germany 4-2-3-1: Schult; Kemme, Krahn, Henning, Cramer; Marozsán, Mittag; Leupolz, Alushi, Laudehr; Sasi.
Subs from Benkarth, Kämper, Weiss, Hendrich, Peter, Schmidt, Wensing, Behringer, Däbritz, Faisst, Goessling, Popp, Bremer, Petermann.
