England captain Leah Williamson says that the team are looking at this evening’s UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 quarter-final against Spain in Brighton as an opportunity rather than focusing on the size of the challenge which awaits them.
The Lionesses come up against the seventh-highest ranked side in the world at the Amex Stadium, Spain are one place above England in the latest FIFA Women’s World Rankings.
Tonight’s game is likely to be one in which both teams will have to suffer for periods without the ball and it could go the distance. For Williamson and the team, they are looking at the occasion as a big opportunity rather than worrying about their opponents.
“Obviously, it’s knockout football and the game changes when you get out of the groups,” Williamson said when speaking in the pre-match press conference. “The nature of the game is different, at the end of the day, there will be one winner and that’s it.
“We know the situation but we choose to look at it as an opportunity. We are confident, we are in good form and hopefully, we can do what we have been doing in this tournament again.”
England netted a record goal haul of 14 in the group stage but other than against Norway, the Lionesses have been relatively slow starters. Williamson went on to say that the team want to fly out of the traps against Spain this evening.
She said “I think the slower starts have come down to our quality, there’s not really a tactical shift or anything needed, we just need to be better on the ball and move it quicker. I think in our training, we’ve tried to do that from the off, as soon as we hit the pitch we want to hit the intensity that we want to play with and that’s something that we are focused on because it gives you a massive advantage in the game.”
England’s UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 quarter-final against Spain kicks-off at 8pm.
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