England on brink of dreamland

After waiting for more than a decade, it is now so close. A point for England against France in Rennes on Saturday will take them to their first FIFA Women's World Cup final tournament since 1995, showing just how far the UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2005™ hosts have come in recent years.

Long journey
Of the squad aiming for a place in China in the finals from 10-30 September 2007, only defender Mary Phillip - standing in as captain for her injured Arsenal LFC colleague Faye White - was in Sweden eleven summers ago as England reached the quarter-finals. So low profile was English women's football at the time that current goalkeeper Rachel Brown admits: "I didn't even know it had happened. The first thing I knew is I'd just joined Liverpool [LFC], and some players were coming back from some tournament and had England shorts on. I honestly did not know there was an England team, I joined from a lower league team as a 14-year-old and didn't know what was going on."

'More backing'
Things have changed. Several of England's qualifiers have been televised live by the BBC, including Saturday's showdown, and whereas four years ago they travelled to France in the World Cup qualifying play-offs needing to win, and lost 1-0, this time their record of six victories and one draw in the group puts the impetus on their opponents, though Hope Powell's team have vowed to go on the attack. "I think the team now has more backing, we are more tooled up," Phillip said. Brown added: "We've seen the sport go from being teased by the media to actually being respected as footballers. That progression has helped the England team to where we are today."

Goalless draw
When France came to Blackburn in March the game finished goalless, thanks largely to some fine goalkeeping by Brown, now with Everton LFC. But last time out England stormed past the Netherlands 4-0, Kelly Smith scoring a hat-trick in one of the finest performances the team has ever produced. "We didn't give a good account of ourselves when we drew 0-0," Brown said. "We kept a clean sheet but we concentrated more on how they might play rather than concentrating on us, on attack. I think we showed against Holland how we could be."

Greater experience
The match four years ago in Saint-Etienne was played in front of nearly 24,000 fans, something England were far from used to. But having attracted several crowds close to or surpassing that number during EURO, they can have more confidence on Saturday. "The last time we were there it was a scary atmosphere," Phillip said. "Walking out on to the pitch, a full stadium, a bit daunting. But from EURO we know what it is like, so we will just blank that out, go out there and do our best."

Making up for EURO
Phillip added that going out at the group stage in the continental competition is a spur. "At EURO we feel we let ourselves down, and the World Cup was the next thing. Each time we meet up we seem to get to know each other better. I'm the only player left from 1995, going out when I was 18 was fantastic. To reach the finals again with the squad we've got and to be a playing part of the squad would be fantastic."