England may have won Euro 2022 on home soil last summer to secure a first major international trophy, but the Lionesses are targeting an even bigger prize this summer as they head to Australia as one of the favourites to lift the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
The Euros provided a landmark moment for women’s football in England, capturing the imagination of the nation and driving interest in the domestic game too.
But, for Bronze, something about the World Cup hits different. The right-back, who made her tournament debut a decade ago at Euro 2013, is going to her third World Cup after helping England to third and fourth place finishes in 2015 and 2019 respectively. She also played at the last Olympics.
“We speak about the differences of tournaments and things like that. And obviously we won the Euros, but World Cups are actually my favourite tournaments because they’re just so much fun,” Bronze explained in the Departure Show special of Lionesses: Down Under.
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“Regardless of the pressure and the games, there’s just so much going on, so many games, so many crazy atmospheres. They’re just so much bigger than the Euros because it’s worldwide.
“Each [World Cup] that I’ve been to, obviously we haven’t won one, but I’ve still had some of the best times in my career, both on the pitch and off the pitch.”
Indeed, the World Cup in 2015 was the tournament that saw Bronze first announce herself as one of the best players in the world. She scored a stunning winning goal against Norway in the last 16 and netted a similarly outstanding strike against the same opposition in the quarter-finals in 2019.
England captain Millie Bright described it as ‘every player’s dream’ to play in a World Cup.
“You dream of this when you were a little kid,” she said.
“We’ve got some players going to their second or third World Cup, some are going to their first, so there’s a real variety across the group. Everyone is in good spirits. How can you not be when you’re going to a major tournament in a beautiful country?”
Watch the full episode of Lionesses: Down Under below
