England Supporters Club

Sampson: 'We are relaxed, confident and ready to go'

Posted by Team England at 14:10 on Tuesday 09 June 2015

So prepared and excited are England Women ahead of Tuesday’s World Cup opener, head coach Mark Sampson believes there is not much more he can say to his players before the big kick-off.

The Lionesses get their Canada 2015 campaign under way against France in Moncton, New Brunswick on Tuesday afternoon.

They qualified unbeaten, and sealed their World Cup berth with a 4-0 win in Wales last August.

Preparation for the tournament started immediately, with matches against Germany and USA, the nations ranked one and two in the world, as well as a successful run in the annual Cyprus Cup competition in March.

After naming his 23-player squad in May, Sampson called the group together for two separate training camps, at St. George’s Park and in Toronto, and he says his team could not be any more prepared.

He told FATV: “This is the type of game where I probably haven’t got to say much. The players will be ready. They have been looking forward to this for a long time.

“Plans have been in place for a long time now. We’ve done our work. We’re prepared, we know what we need to do in relation to the game plan.

"We’re prepared psychologically in terms of managing the emotions of the day. We’re excited by that challenge.