Forward Lauren Hemp feels England gained the respect they deserved after turning around their Women’s European Championship defence with a resounding group-stage victory over the Netherlands.
The Lionesses will now reach the quarter-finals with victory over Wales on Sunday night in St Gallen and the mood in camp is decidedly more jovial than it was following their opening loss to France, which had left them in a perilous position.
Even boss Sarina Wiegman admitted she was surprised by Wednesday night’s 4-0 scoreline, the product of a full-squad effort increasingly being branded “proper England” football by the Lionesses and their coach.
“It was important that we turned it around and we proved to the fans, we proved to everyone, that we’re here to compete and we’re here to win,” said Hemp.
“It was a bit of night and day in our performances. Unfortunately it didn’t go how we wanted it to, but there were also positives from that (first) game we could have taken. Like, we weren’t at our best, but we’ve still got it to 2-1 and we were still close to drawing that match.
“Obviously we never want to lose, but it was important that we made sure that we got ourselves right back in it, and I think we gained the respect that we deserved as a group.”
Victory against Wales, the lowest-ranked team in the tournament, would make things simple for the Lionesses, though a draw would suffice in several more complicated permutations.
England will finish first in Group D if they win and the Netherlands beat France by a margin of fewer than seven goals.
Wales are all-but eliminated, having lost their first two group stage contests, but the tournament newcomers have spoken about the bigger picture as a chance to inspire the next generation of Welsh female footballers.
“It’s important that we all want to improve the women’s game and grow it as far as we can,” said Hemp.
“It’s a great rivalry that we have and they’re the games you want to be involved in. They’re the ones I absolutely love playing in.
“We’re all very excited about it. I feel like we don’t need to explain the rivalry, because it’s like a Derby. We want to win, end of, basically, so we’re going to do what we can to do that.”
News emerged on Thursday night, first reported by the Guardian, that Arsenal are set to make Canada international Olivia Smith the first £1million player in the women’s game after agreeing a world-record fee with Liverpool.
Hemp believes that can only be seen as a positive development, despite more pressure potentially being put on players to justify their price tags.
She said: “I think it’s the direction that the women’s game’s going and it is great to see.
“We’re in a bit of a bubble at the moment [in their Euros camp] so we’re not really seeing much of that.
“We’re just focusing on tournament, it is great to see and proof that women’s footballers are great and that is the way that the game’s going. So if so, long may that continue.”
