Powell's EURO plan coming together

Hope Powell played for England in the first continental final in 1984 and 25 years on she is preparing to coach her country in a third consecutive UEFA European Women's Championship. Having taken the helm after the failure to qualify in 1997, her side fell at the group stage in 2001 and 2005 – as hosts – but her young squad developed into FIFA Women's World Cup quarter-finalists two years ago and reached Finland unbeaten courtesy of a dramatic comeback to draw their decisive qualifier in Spain 2-2. The most experienced head coach at the finals, Powell spoke to uefa.com about England's chances of emulating their Under-19 side, who became European champions last month.

uefa.com: What does it mean to you to be involved in the finals?

Hope Powell: It's great. We qualified out of what I think was quite a tough ending to the group – you know, Spain were unfortunate. So that was a big step, just qualifying again. And now we're actually in it, it's great again to be part of a tournament with the best teams in Europe. I think that helps us develop: you need to be in the big tournaments to develop and you need to be in big tournaments to win something. So as a squad of players and staff, we're elated to be part of that, and we just hope to do well.

uefa.com: Can you assess the strengths of your Group C opponents?

Powell: We can't take anything for granted. Italy are fast-developing, technically gifted, with some really clever players. Russia are physically strong, difficult to counter at times. And Sweden are in the top five in the world; they just won the Algarve Cup. So each team will pose different problems, and for us, we just have to make sure on the day that we are as prepared as we can be.

uefa.com: Do you think you've got a better squad now than in 2005?

Powell: I'd like to think so. I'd like to say it's more competitive. The selection is not as easy as it was in 2005, and it's no disrespect to any of the players that were involved. With the younger players that are coming through, they're pushing the older players for places. That in itself makes it more competitive, which can only be good for England.

uefa.com: There are a lot of players with previous experience of tournaments. Do you think this has helped the team?

Powell: Undoubtedly. We've got a lot of players who have had U19 experience in European Championships and World Cup finals. When I took over, I basically cut the average age. Those players came in very young and then had all that experience. They are now the older players. And I think in order to win tournaments and become better, you need to have those experiences of tournament play, because they are so different to a one-off game. You've got to play one game, rest and recover, play another game, rest and recover, play another game, rest and recover – it's hard going. So the fact that we are now qualifying for major tournaments, we can experience that. And as a result, we can hopefully only get better.