July 11th 2023.
Lucy Bronze and Millie Bright have been training with England in Australia in preparation for the Women’s World Cup. There has been a lot of discussion around the national team captaincy, and I wanted to address this as we approach the tournament.
Leah Williamson, who led us to European Championship success last year, is sadly injured and out of the tournament Down Under. Millie Bright, another Euros-winning player who has just claimed her fourth successive Women’s Super League title with Chelsea, will take on the captaincy in Australia and New Zealand.
The armband seems to be a big deal to us in England, but while Leah was captain, she didn’t dictate absolutely everything inside the team. We seem to put a lot of pressure on our captains here, and Leah was very lucky she was able to cope with it. We prefer to share pressure as a team.
Millie has a wealth of experience at the international level, and Keira Walsh in midfield is one of our biggest leaders on the pitch, dictating much of what we do in a game. Whoever is chosen as captain, they don’t become something they’re not.
Pressure is something we have to address as a team. It’s a natural part of World Cup preparation, and it’s been the biggest change since last summer. Although we’re missing some key players, we still have the confidence of having won the Euros.
Sarina Wiegman, our manager, keeps us level and the mindset stays the same as it always has. After all, we managed to lose only one game in a year without Fran Kirby and Beth Mead, and we won Finalissima against Brazil and beat the USA.
The pressure is on the hosts Australia as co-hosts, and although people are writing off the US at their peril, it comes down to their mentality going into tournaments. We’re in Australia and New Zealand to try to win the World Cup.
Finally, as an ambassador for Team Kenya, I just wanted to remind everyone that they involve entire communities in gender equality so girls in rural Kenya can create their own bright futures. Visit teamkenya.org.uk to learn more.
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