England manager Mark Sampson is sure his squad will cope with their unfavourable schedule at the Women’s World Cup even though it is starting to have an effect.
Sampson has already used 16 players during their two matches at this tournament, the opening 1-0 loss to France and Saturday’s 2-1 win over Mexico.
One of the drawbacks of Group F beginning on the fourth day of the tournament is that their schedule is more condensed than that of most other teams. With the matches being on artificial turf, which many players feel is harder on their bodies, that could be significant. Some have complained of sore backs after the two matches in Moncton.
“We know this tournament will not be a team of 11 — all 23 will contribute, whether on the field or off it, or from the bench,” said Sampson. “We have less recovery time to manage the group. We have shown our strength in depth. Against Mexico, all the substitutes made an impact.”
With France unexpectedly losing to Colombia before England’s match with Mexico, a second defeat would have meant Sampson’s team almost certainly being eliminated.
Defender Alex Greenwood said: “I was shocked by that [France losing] but our focus was on who we were playing. We had to win our game, whatever France did.
“It is a relief we won but we were relaxed coming into the game. If we played our gameplan, we knew we would win. Thankfully, we are back on track.”
England’s next match is against Colombia in Montreal’s Olympic Stadium on Wednesday.
Sampson revealed Jodie Taylor has suffered a setback in her rehabilitation after a knee injury but said Arsenal’s Jordan Nobbs, the as-yet-unused vice-captain, is fit to play.
With the top two qualifying automatically from each of the six groups, and the four best third‑placed finishers, all scenarios remain possible for England. The one guarantee is that victory will take them through to the last 16.
