Daily Mail - 04.03.2020

79

Daily Mail, Wednesday, March 4, 2020^
Football

Daly desperate to rain on USA’s World Cup parade

EnglanD defender Rachel Daly

says she is out for revenge on

the USa for rubbing last

summer’s World Cup victory in

her face.

The 28-year-old, who plays for

Houston Dash in the national

Women’s Soccer league

(nWSl), says the fanfare around

the four-time world champions

made it more difficult to get

over the lionesses missing out

on their first World Cup final.

ahead of facing England’s old

foes in their SheBelieves Cup

opener here tomorrow night,

Daly said: ‘There were

billboards everywhere.

Walking into the airport, the

first thing I see is, “Welcome

home USa, World Cup

champions”, and then they

do parades, and it’s kind of in

your face.

‘You can avoid it when you go

home (to England). It might be

in the newspapers, but for me,

it was literally everywhere. It’s

quite hard.’

Many of the USa squad became

household names after they

followed up their 2-1 semi-final

defeat of England by beating

Holland 2-0 to win the

trophy.

and Daly (right) says that

attracted fans in their

droves to Dash’s home

fixtures, though the

Harrogate-born

player admits she

couldn’t help but feel envious

that she wasn’t the main

attraction.

‘When Seattle came to town,

we would get more fans

because Megan Rapinoe was

playing,’ she said.

‘That was frustrating

because more people

would show up just for

her and I’m thinking,

“I wish they were coming

for me because we had

won the World Cup”. That

was tough.’

according to US

Soccer, more than 12,000 tickets

have been sold for the opening

double-header at Exploria

Stadium that sees Spain take on

Japan in an earlier kick-off

before England face the hosts.

CLAIRE BLOOMFIELD

in Orlando

G

areth Southgate

last night warned

h ar r y Ka n e a n d

Marcus rashford

t h a t t h e y m u s t

prove their fitness by play-

ing for their clubs before

the end of the season in

order to ensure they have

pivotal roles for england at

this summer’s european

Championship.

the england boss was speaking

at the UeFa Nations League

draw in amsterdam, where his

side were drawn with Belgium,

Denmark and Iceland for the

second edition of the new tourna-

ment, which will start in Septem-

ber. But preparing for euro 2020

is his immediate priority.

t he h a m s t r i n g a n d b a c k

injuries sustained by Kane and

rashford respectively in January

have presented Southgate with a

major headache, particu-

larly given Jamie Vardy

remains reluctant to make

h i m s e l f a v a i l a b l e f o r

selection, but both should

be fit before the end of

the season.

Southgate emphasised

that match fitness is just as

important for both players

as completing their reha-

bilitation, however, which

will place the onus on Jose

Mourinho and Ole Gunnar

Solskjaer to ensure they

are given significant game-

time as both tottenham

and Manchester United

chase Champions League

qualification.

‘all I know is that both

players will give themselves

the best possible chance of

being fit and available

before the end of the season, not

only for us but also for their clubs,’

Southgate said.

‘they have to get back playing

club football. their clubs all have

important matches. then we are

hoping both come through with

no issues ahead of the summer

for us.’

Southgate was more supportive

of under-fire goalkeeper Jordan

Pickford, who made his seventh

m a j o r e r r o r o f t h e s e a s o n

last Sunday when allowing a

long-range shot from Bruno

Fernandes to fly through his

hands in everton’s 1-1 draw with

Manchester United.

the 25-year-old has invariably

performed well for england, how-

ever, and remains Southgate’s

first-choice goalkeeper despite

his indifferent Premier League

form with the manager offering

unqualified backing.

‘Jordan’s performances for us,

throughout, have been outstand-

ing,’ Southgate said.

‘I think he has been a key part of

some big, big results that we have

had. I think that is clear to every-

body, but in goal you are always

under the spotlight. If you’re the

england goalkeeper that is the

reality of the job so I don’t think

he will be shying away from that.

all the time I have known him he

h a s b e e n a v e r y r e s i l i e n t

character.

‘he has a very experienced man-

ager at everton now to help with

it, so I am expecting him to

bounce back. the weekend goal

is one he would want to do better

with, but he made outstanding

saves at the end of the game.

that is the life of a goalkeeper.’

Southgate did his best to appear

unconcerned about the potential

impact of the coronavirus, which

has led to doubts over whether a

friendly against Italy at Wembley

will take place as planned on

March 27 following the rapid

spread of the virus near Milan.

Denmark are due at Villa Park

four days later and their players

will soon be familiar to Southgate

given the draw for League a of

the Nations League. england will

play the Danes, Belgium and

Iceland home and away next

autumn, with the group winners

proceeding to the finals in the

summer of 2021, and the bottom

team relegated to League B.

Southgate said of coronavirus:

‘the reality is we don’t know, it is

an ever-changing picture for eve-

rybody, in every walk of life. We’re

updated all the time by govern-

ment, with the current advice

that it is not looking to be an

issue, but none of us know what

the next few weeks will hold.’

WATCHING brIef...

USA v

ENGLAND

Kick-off: Tomorrow, midnight (UK

time) at Exploria Stadium, Orlando.

TV: LIVE on BBC Two from 11.40pm.

Southgate tells Kane and

rashford they must prove

fitness to feature at euros

MATT

HUGHES

Chief Sports Reporter

in Amsterdam

NATIONS LEAGUE: HOW IT ALL WORKS...

TEaMS play each other home and away

in September, October and november.

ThE four League A group winners qualify

for the Nations League Finals in June 2021.

Bottom sides are relegated to League B.

THE two highest-ranked group winners

who do not qualify directly for the 2022

World Cup are handed the safety net of a

play-off place for Qatar.

ALL the other home Nations are in League

B, with Wales and the Republic of Ireland

drawn together alongside Bulgaria and

Finland. Scotland face the Czech Republic,

Slovakia and Israel, while Northern Ireland

face Austria, Norway and Romania.

÷

÷

÷

÷

Group 1

HO LLAND

ITALy

BOSNIA-HERz

POLAND

Group 3

PO RTUGAL

FRANCE

SWEDEN

CROATIA

Group 2

ENGLAND

BE LGIUM

DENMARK

ICELAND

Group 4

SW ITzERLAND

SPAIN

UKRAINE

GERMANy

ENGLAND’S RECORD

England’s

missing

men: Kane

(left) and

Rashford

GETTY IMAGES

BELGIUM

DENMARK

ICELAND

L 3

L 3

L 1

W 15

W 12

W 1

D 5

D 4

D 1