Hope springs eternal for England

By Pete Sanderson in Preston

With the big UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2005™ kick-off just two days away, England coach Hope Powell insisted her England squad were not feeling the pressure despite the huge expectation which is sweeping the nation ahead of Sunday's opening game with Finland.

Huge crowd
England's opener has already sold over 22,000 tickets, a record attendance for a women's international in Europe. With the bulk of those tickets sold to England fans, many believe the hosts will have a distinct advantage over their rivals. But, as the fighting talk began at the Group A press conference today, Powell's fellow coaches admitted the hosts could easily crumble under the weight of expectation.

Relaxed squad
But Powell, now in her seventh year as England coach, laughed off suggestions that England were feeling the heat claiming her squad were "incredibly relaxed" going into the tournament's opening fixture. "The pressure is something we have to take into account," she told uefa.com "At the moment we're very relaxed and have done a lot of work ahead of a game which is probably the biggest game of our lives.

Confident outlook
"At the moment it's obviously a new entity for the players to play in front of a potential crowd of 25,000. But we are very confident that we can control this pressure and hopefully we'll get the right result on Sunday." The previous best attendance for a competitive game in England was 14,107 at Selhurst Park for a FIFA Women's World Cup qualifier against Germany in May 2002.

Famous faces
But WOMEN'S EURO 2005™ fever has swept across England over the last few weeks with the faces of the England squad splashed all over the newspapers, television screen and billboards throughout the north-west region - a fact that has had a huge impact on ticket sales. Not only does this benefit England, Powell also believes it will benefit the game in the long-term.

'Raised profile'
"Everyone wants the women's game to make strides forwards and this tournament will certainly help that," Powell said. "We are also learning from other countries in terms of player development. We've learned a lot from Sweden and Germany and one of their prime focuses was on fitness. That's something we've adopted - the players have to be fitter now to keep up with the likes of USA, Sweden and Germany. In learning lessons from each other we've moved the game forward."