It took a no-holds barred heart-to-heart in the desert to prove to Phil Neville that his Lionesses were ready to take this World Cup by storm.
England’s players underwent a brutal truth and honesty session with the head coach in Qatar but emerged ready to launch a full-blooded tilt at the game’s greatest prize.
For Neville, it was supposed to be a birthday celebration, but that was overshadowed as his players voicing their concerns and emotions.
A surprising 2-0 home defeat by Sweden last November was the catalyst as everything was left on the table.
Ahead of tonight’s heavyweight clash against the United States, he said: “Forget tactics, forget playing out from the back. The biggest thing was when we were beaten by Sweden.
“We had a real big moment. My whole Christmas was ruined by that Sweden game. It wasn’t losing. It was the fact I didn’t have that smile.
“So we took them to Qatar. We literally took them into the desert. We had a night out. The players took me out for my birthday.
“That was the night I turned to my assistant, Bev Priestman, and said, ‘We’ve got it now’ because we came together.
“It was the moment I thought that Sweden was the best thing that happened to us because it was the kick-up-the-backside we needed.
“Everything was on the table in Qatar. If we didn’t like each other, or our friendship groups, we stripped it bare and laid it on the table.
“There was a lot of honest conversations. We went out to Qatar and then we won the SheBelieves Cup.
“And from then on, we’ve been like a steam train.”
All the way to a World Cup semi-final against holders the United States on Tuesday night in Lyon.
Former Manchester United and Everton star Neville is clearly confident his side are primed for the task.
He added: “They’ve got that look in their eyes, they’ve got ice in their veins, they don’t leave each other’s side after dinner.
“I’ve played in successful sides and you smell it. When dinner finishes at 7.45pm and you’re playing in an unsuccessful side, everyone goes up to their own room.
“But my players sit around the eating room, playing music, laughing joking. You think, ‘We’ve got something here’.”
The importance of taking on three top sides in the SheBelieves Cup – in America’s own backyard – and drawing 2-2 with the current World Cup holders was, Neville believes, his own watershed moment.
And that is underpinning his belief that tonight could be the greatest night in English women’s football history.
Neville said: “The SheBelieves was my big moment, my big breakthrough. We had to get on that platform, hold that trophy and have that medal around our necks.
“I won the league at Middlesbrough with Manchester United and I wore my medal for the next two or three days because I thought, ‘I want this again - and the best want it again and again’.
“We’re at that moment now where it’s so close and we’ve spoken long and hard about this for the last 12 months.
“It’s about getting into this moment and delivering. I want my players to realise that we are so close and we have to deliver. We have to. There is no upside to defeat.
“Losing in a semi final would mean nothing to me. Every single meeting, every single training session, every five-a-side we’ve had we’ve spoken about winning.
“The common vision is winning - and winning a World Cup. We have a three year plan, win the World Cup, win the Olympics, win the Euros and the common agreement is you want to create a legacy and win the World Cup then everything else falls into place.
“If the players didn’t have that belief, if they thought the semi final was their utopia, we would have left after half the journey.
“But the common goal has now put egos to one side. Individual targets and golden boots. It’s just about winning.
“I’ve now got 23 players who don’t care who is on the pitch - they just care about winning.”
