Wales captain Angharad James has vowed to knock England out of the Euros on Sunday evening, as the two home nations clash in their final group game of the tournament.
Both the Lionesses and Wales got off to a slow start in the tournament, with Sarina Wiegman’s side disappointingly losing 2-1 to an impressive France side, whereas the Welsh team fell to a 3-0 defeat against the Netherlands.
While England returned to form against the Netherlands, recording a commanding 3-0 victory, Wales again fell to a dominating 4-1 defeat against Les Bleues.
The Dragons entered the tournament as the lowest-ranked side in the competition, but James is insistent on their progress and that it won’t stop them from putting up a fight against their rivals.
Wales captain Angharad James said it is 'in our blood' to want to knock England out of the tournament
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“As a Welshwoman, do you want to knock England out? Of course you do,” the skipper said ahead of the crucial clash on Sunday evening. “It’s in our blood, our DNA, and the rivalry has always been there and always will be there.
“But you have to come back to the occasion, and this is just another game of football. Hopefully, we can perform in a better way than we did against France, keep improving our performances, and the result comes with that.”
“There’s no hiding behind the history of Wales versus England, whatever sport you are playing in. It’s a rivalry match, and it’s one everyone wants to play in.
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The Lionesses were back to their scintillating best against the Netherlands
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“The pressure is all on England. They have to come out, they have to perform. They’re expected to win this game. Within our group, we believe we can upset a very top team but we’re preparing as normal and we’re ready for the fight.”
Wales boss Rhian Wilkinson sang from the same hymn sheet as her captain: “These women have fought so hard for so long to have this opportunity and I will not allow us to feel like we’re here just to participate.
“For my women, we get to show up and spoil the party, and that’s a wonderful job to have.”
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The Lionesses, though, have been much calmer and collected in their preparation and approach to the game.
Entering the tournament as the defending champions, England now have genuine pedigree, and defender Alex Greenwood said the side should be “proud” that they have brought this on themselves through their success.
“It’s something we’re probably used to,” she said. “That’s a pressure we’ve invited because we’ve been successful and we should be actually quite proud of.”
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England defender Alex Greenwood insisted England are focusing on the game rather than the rivalry
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When asked about the rivalry and whether it feels the same for England, the 31-year-old replied nonchalantly: “Maybe not as much. I think, for me personally, it’s another game.
“It’s now the most important game that we’re going to play and I think that’s how I look at it, that’s how I treat it. I think for the fans and everybody around it, the rivalry is brilliant.
“I think the atmosphere tomorrow is going to be great and something we should all look forward to, but from a personal perspective, it’s another really important game.”
Boss Wiegman, though, was keen to remind fans of the importance of the game: England must win if they want to progress through and avoid a humiliating championship defence.
She said: “For us it’s a big game too because we have to win. We want to get through the group and that’s on ourselves.
“Of course, we’ve heard about rivalry and yeah, they [Wales] want to do really, really well, but we do too. And yeah, there’s passion, but we have passion too and we just want to play really well and play football.”
While the rivalry may not be as important for the Lionesses, their Euros campaign depends on this game.
The match kicks off at 8pm on Sunday evening.