Lucy Bronze issues Lionesses rallying cry and makes Women’s World Cup vow

09 August 2023 , 11:00

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Lucy Bronze talks as she plays – with no nonsense.

‌So when Barcelona ’s Champions League winner delivered her verdict on England’s showing so far at this World Cup, one thing was for certain: It wouldn't be sugar-coated.

‌Bronze wears her heart on her sleeve and has been a monumental presence in the Lionesses ' success story during the past two years. So when she says England haven’t played well, they haven’t. When she says they’re due some respect for reaching the last eight, it’s fair.

And now she reckons there’s more to come. The country can but hope.

‌“We can give more,” she said. “We are not happy with our performances but we are through to the quarter-finals, that’s the important thing. There’s no point playing our best in the first games. We might as well save them for the last eight, or further than that.

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“We’ve built on every game. We’ve taken something from every match – whether that was the Haiti game which was physical, the Denmark game when we lost our key player in Keira, the China game when we changed formation completely, or Nigeria where we had a red card.

“Going down to 10 was difficult and then there was extra time, but I think we’ve shown a side of this England team where we are tactically smart. We have a mentality. We have seen games out and then, the penalties.

Lucy Bronze is confident England can improve from their Nigeria performance (Joe Prior/Getty Images)

“We came up against one quite recently – against Brazil in the Finalissima at Wembley – where those pressure moments are on you.

“Players, such as Chloe Kelly, a game-winning goal in the Euros and then coming up fifth in the penalties [against Nigeria].

“Everything that has been thrown at us, we’ve dealt with and moved forward. I don’t see many other teams who’ve had that adversity and if they had, I don’t think they’ve managed to overcome the way we have.”

One of those obstacles has been the suspension facing Lauren James. Bronze was quickly off the pitch in Brisbane to console the youngster who she admits spends time seeking advice from the likes of senior players such as herself and Alex Greenwood.

She said: “LJ didn’t start the first game. She didn’t feature at all during the Euros. She’s massively talented, we all know that and, obviously, we’re very disappointed to lose a player of her calibre going into the next game.

“All we can do is go back into training and focus. We’re coming out of games with wins. I said that after the Haiti game – and that wasn’t probably what some people wanted to hear.

“However, we're the ones who are still in the competition and there's many top teams who are going home because they haven't been able to get that point or been able to see the games out in the penalty shootout.

“We have. We’ve shown that side of our team that we know what it takes to win. There’s a lot of belief. We are a confident team. The belief is huge. We had that in extra time and penalties. We know our strengths. We know what we’re capable of and we’re going to show it to the world.”