It’s such an exciting time to be an player.
Hot off the back of becoming European champions with Barcelona in my first season with them since signing from , I now have the chance to go to my third and try to add world success to our Euro 2022 triumph.
The club season really went how I’d hoped it would. The was my main goal, along with getting picked for the World Cup. I managed to achieve those, plus win La Liga and the Supercopa, completing an amazing Treble.
Aside from that, there have been so many crazy moments, in matches like the derbies against Real Madrid and playing at Camp Nou.
I wanted to be in these exciting games and European competition has grown so much, with clubs giving the Champions League more attention each year, and so many clubs feeling it is a trophy they have a chance to win.
Now the World Cup is getting close, I can see the England girls are in good shape and in a good mindset. Knee surgery wasn’t the plan for me but it was so minor and such a little bump in the road.
It takes four long years for the World Cup to come around and so far it has provided the most disappointing and also most exciting moments of my career.
But I know I’d take playing in a World Cup over everything. To be fit and ready and in a good place ahead of it, I am just so excited.
It feels like each one gets bigger and already it looks as if it will be a bigger tournament and spectacle than ever before. I am lucky enough to have played in two World Cups so far and I don’t take them for granted.
My first World Cup was the Under-17s tournament in New Zealand and to this day it is one of the best experiences I have had in football. The whole experience of being in that country was unbelievable so I think I have higher expectations than most for it.
Luckily for me, most of my family are coming out to the tournament. My mum regrets not coming to New Zealand 15 years ago for my first major tournament, when we lost to North Korea in the semi-finals, eventually finishing fourth.
Jordan Nobbs – who is also in the Lionesses squad this time – was in the XI with me that day and Rachel Daly was on the bench. As soon as Australia and New Zealand were announced as hosts, it didn’t matter the price, mum was going to come whatever.
It’s a long way from home and matches will be on at unusual times but we had such a good fanbase en route to winning the European Championship last year and we were so well-supported that I think people will be excited to watch us over there.
I feel as long as the games can be seen on television, people will rearrange their days to support us if they can.
New Zealand’s co-hosts Australia have superstars like Sam Kerr in their side and she is getting a lot of attention over there. She is giving the whole country something to get excited about.
In our group, we have some newer faces such as Lauren James, who is one who wasn’t in the Euros squad a year ago, and these players help the dynamic of the squad.
Alex Greenwood and I are the ones with the experience in this team and then you have Katie Robinson and Laura Coombs at the other end of the spectrum in that respect.
We will buzz off the excitement together. We know we’re not the same team as 2022. We have evolved, we’ve changed, with new players and a new focus. We can’t wait to have our shot at World Cup glory.
‘We are not the same team as 2022. We have evolved, we’ve changed with new players and a new focus’
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