England Supporters Club

Cyprus Cup win

Posted by Team England at 22:13 on Thursday 12 March 2015

Mark Sampson is already looking towards the World Cup after guiding England Women to their third Cyprus Cup title.

Lianne Sanderson’s clinical finish on 67 minutes was enough to defeat Canada in the final of the annual friendly tournament.

The head coach congratulated his players on their achievement – but said the World Cup is at the forefront of his thoughts.

He said: “I’m incredibly proud of the players and all the staff. It’s been a massive effort from them in this tournament.

“We have raised the bar high but the objective now is to go and raise it even further.

“We are in a really good place. The challenge is to continue to raise the bar and build momentum.

“We have got to put our foot to the floor and build momentum up to the China game, try and play as well as we can there and keep building up to the summer.”

England reached the final after comfortable group stage wins over Finland and Australia and a dogged 1-1 draw with the Netherlands.

And Sampson said he was delighted with the different qualities his team showed over the course of the four matches.

He added: “We know as a group that it was important for us to win this trophy.

“Whether that was by playing well or not playing so well, we needed to find a way to win this competition and the players have certainly done that.

“For me, the players have showed different sides to them."