Ever the analyst, the defender Leah Williamson corrected Phil Neville when he said England want to win the World Cup, telling him that, yes, they wanted to win but, more than that, they wanted to be “badass women” in the process. On Tuesday, though, England face the “baddest” women footballers around, a USA team dripping with talent, swagger and a confidence that verges on arrogance.
With their operations team sniffing around the England team hotel, scouting out digs for the final, there is an expectation they will win. With the USA there always is. It is a winning mindset that Neville has tried to emulate and drill into his players. He says he can feel it, see it in their eyes, that the Lionesses are ready to win.
“What I understand [badass women] to mean is, you don’t just want to come to a World Cup, make an impact but then be forgotten,” says England’s Nikita Parris. “Mia Hamm, and those girls, have made an imprint on football for the rest of history.
“That’s what Leah is talking about. She’s talking about making history. Giving young girls the chance to not only reach the top but make sure they make their mark.”
The winger, who will be playing on her new home turf having just signed for Lyon, believes England can knock the USA off their perch. “Why shouldn’t we think we can’t be ‘badder’ than them when we went to the SheBelieves and we won it? We went toe-to-toe with them, you know? We have beaten the Americans in the past. We beat them 1-0 under Mark Sampson. Why shouldn’t we think we can beat them? Why do we have to come to this tournament semi-final and think: ‘Oh, it’s America?’
“Nobody fears America. Nobody fears Germany. Nobody fears England. They know that on the day, no matter who you are, if you perform and get the best out of each and every player on the field of play, you’ll win the game. I don’t fear America and I don’t think my teammates do.”
A SheBelieves Cup is all well and good, an exhilarating 2-2 draw with USA in that friendly competition the highlight, but World Cup football is a different beast. USA’s 13-0 defeat of Thailand in their opening game gave them momentum but hard-fought 2-1 wins over Spain and France in the knockout stages have cut through the air of infallibility.
“We’ll know tomorrow how we’ve progressed as a team. USA are the No 1 team in the world so people will back them,” Parris says. “Ultimately both teams want to win. It’s a massive game, for us and them, and a really exciting time for women’s football. Especially in England – we’ve come a long way. We’ll be going toe-to-toe with the Americans and we want to win that game. We’ve come here to win this tournament.”
Parris will be crucial to that task. Alongside Lucy Bronze, the pair form the most potent threat on England’s right, with Jill Scott orchestrating their movements and combining with the pair to telling effect. They will be up against the left-back Crystal Dunn and the USA’s player of the tournament thus far, on and off the pitch, Megan Rapinoe.
Rapinoe and her five-goal compatriot Alex Morgan will need to try to breach the strongest defence in the tournament, with Steph Houghton and Millie Bright at its heart.
The England manager has a decision to make in midfield, the usually assured Kiera Walsh has looking shaky shielding the defence. In America, Neville tried Bronze alongside her for the strength she offers though it is unlikely he will pull her away from the battle with Rapinoe. There is, though, the option of the more steely Jade Moore.
In the buildup to this World Cup much was made of the 20th anniversary of the “99ers”, the USA World Cup-winning team who took the success of their victorious 1991 side to the next level and catapulted women’s football into the mainstream. The 2019 USA shirts are a nod to the historic victory. Should England win then they have a chance to similarly write their names in history.
“You have to respect America for respecting the pioneers of the game,” Parris says. “That’s important. We do that a lot in our game in England. What they’ve done for women’s football across the world is massive. It’s brought about a way in [which] people now respect the game.
“You’ve got to respect what people in the past have done to allow us to be in this moment. I’m so grateful for people like Casey Stoney, Fara Williams, Alex Scott, Faye White … I could reel them all off because they’ve brought the game into a position now where we’ve really got something to fight for.”
Parris’s fight, though, is seemingly in the genes. Her sister Natasha Jonas was the first British woman to box at the Olympics, in 2012. Jonas was also a promising footballer but when injury ended her dream she was forced to find another path to being an elite athlete.
“The biggest thing I got from my sister’s career was never to give up,” she says. “She had so many ups and downs throughout her career. Injuries and big injuries – ACLs. And she never gave up, she always came back fighting.
“I’m proud to say that my sister was the first female boxer in the Olympics. That’s history. She made her mark. And that’s what you want to do in any sport.
“Her and Jill Scott always said the same: never get too high and never get too low. Jill said it and I remember my sister saying it. Always stay in a happy medium in sport because you never know what’s around the corner.”
