Chelsea defender Millie Bright says that it is back to work for England this evening when they face North Macedonia in Skopje.
The Lionesses ended their last camp in February with celebrations after winning the inaugural Arnold Clark Cup and their attentions now return to securing their place at the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023.
England will not qualify this evening, however, they will move closer to their target with victory over a North Macedonia side who they defeated 8-0 in the reverse game back in September. Following the euphoria of the Arnold Clark Cup win, defender Bright says that it is now very much back to work for the Lionesses.
“We want to go out there and have high standards,” Bright said when speaking in the pre-match press conference. “Obviously, we want to go out and win the game but first and foremost, we want a performance to show our qualities.
“When you’ve come off a high, we have to be prepared to go out and play again, you can’t just stay in that high moment, you have to come back down and get down to the hard work. For us, it is about going out there, doing the right things and getting the job done.”
Despite England’s 8-0 victory over North Macedonia in the reverse fixture in Southampton, head coach Sarina Wiegman urged her side to be more clinical after spurning several good chances to extend their advantage. Bright went on to say that the Lionesses have progressed since that game.
She said “We’ve come on massively and I hope everyone back home can see how much the team is developing, I think you can see that. We certainly feel that in and around the games and training sessions, we see the quality and people coming out of their shells and playing at their best. We want to have everyone in a position to play at the top stage and to perform at the highest level. For us, we are seeing that and we just have to keep pushing the levels.
“There has been a massive improvement. We are harder to beat and we are now certainly being ruthless down the other end as well.”
England’s latest FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023 qualifier against North Macedonia is scheduled to kick-off at 7pm.
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