England Women manager Phill Neville says that his team aren’t afraid of anyone heading into the tournament’s latter stages.
England face Japan in the final group stage match of the 2018 Women’s World Cup on Wednesday night.
The match will determine who wins the group, with the winner taking first place. There’s some added history to this fixture, as England and Japan played at the SheBelieves Cup earlier this year.
Phil Neville says that although the Lionesses know Japan well, they will have to be at their best to win.
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“You look at their lineup for the last game and there’s probably three or four players who played for them in She Believes,” said Phill Neville.
“But we also made nine changes in She Believes, and we one the game. So it won’t have any semblance on the game tomorrow. What it does give us is good information and experience of playing against a system that they always play, 4 – 4 – 2.
“They play a certain style and they have certain movements that we have to guard against. We know that their top players are back tomorrow night. My team has good experience playing against Japan and they know all about them.
“I think they were caught by surprise by Argentina in the first game. They caught us by surprise watching that game with the way they were so set up and disciplined. I think we saw in the first half against Scotland what Japan’s qualities are all about. We know we’re gonna have to play at our best to get a result. The aim is to finish top of the group and to win three out of three and keep the momentum going.”
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Winning the group will be advantageous for England in the draw. However, Neville is confident that his team can beat anyone.
“We could avoid, Netherlands and then if we win the group we could play the USA or France,” he said.
“Either way you’ve got to play the top teams and we’re not scared of anyone. Tomorrow night we just want to concentrate on getting a good performance and getting the win.”
