England’s Walsh ready to turn to Daly for the lowdown on threat posed by Canada’s Houston’s Dash stars
KEIRA WALSH will be picking Rachel Daly’s brains for insight on Canada before England’s clash with the Olympic gold champs. And the WSL ace says seeing ‘best-mate’ Leah Williamson return as Lionesses skipper is a ‘proud moment’ for her. In their Arnold Clark Cup opener England will go to battle with a Canada team […]
KEIRA WALSH will be picking Rachel Daly’s brains for insight on Canada before England’s clash with the Olympic gold champs.
And the WSL ace says seeing ‘best-mate’ Leah Williamson return as Lionesses skipper is a ‘proud moment’ for her.
In their Arnold Clark Cup opener England will go to battle with a Canada team that dispatched the USA on their way a historic gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
Their squad includes Nichelle Prince, 26, Allysha Chapman, 33, and Sophie Schmidt, 33, all team-mates of Rachel Daly at US club Houston Dash.
And Walsh expects the Lionesses to face a swift and ‘very direct’ Canada side with their team containing WSL aces Jessie Fleming, Deanne Rose and Janine Beckie.
The England midfielder, 24, said: “Rachel (Daly) talks to us about some of the players she’s played with and against in the NWSL.
“I think it’s important for us to hear that and draw from her experiences of playing against them.
“We imagine them to be quite direct, and they’re all very quick.
“From seeing the girls in the WSL this year, Jessie Fleming had a great start to Chelsea and she’s carried that on through the second half of the season.
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“Obviously we have to respect the opposition, but for us, it’s about focusing on what we’re doing and sticking to the game plan and starting this tournament confidently.”
England’s duel with Bev Priestman’s players will be their first encounter against a team ranked inside the world’s top ten this year.
It will be their first match against one of the world’s top squads under head coach Sarina Wiegman.
And their opponents have lost just one of the last 13 internationals they played since the two sides faced off at the Britannia Stadium in April 2021.
The Lionesses will be captained by Arsenal’s Leah Williamson in all of three of their Arnold Clark Cup encounters.
The Gunners centre-back, 24, has returned to her skipper’s role after missing England’s World Cup qualifier thrashings of Latvia and Austria due to a hamstring injury.
And Man City star Walsh says Williamson’s comeback fills her with pride with the duo having become best friends after meeting at an England Under-15s camp.
Walsh added: “When I was younger and we played at Under-17s, Under-18s and Under-19s, she was always the captain of the youth teams.
“It’s always a role she has naturally assumed anyway, whether she is wearing the armband or not.
“She’s had a few injuries recently so just seeing the strides she’s made as her best friend and team-mate, it’s such a proud moment for me.”
Canada are a little bit more consistent. It’s up to us to match that
Leah Williamson
The last time Williamson and Walsh faced Canada together was before the Autumn arrival of boss Sarina Wiegman.
And the Lionesses fell to a 2-1 loss to the side coached by former England assistant Priestman.
However, Williamson reckons the outcome of Thursday’s game could be a different story.
The Lionesses captain said: ”They have strengths but they also have weaknesses, and we’ll try and do our best to fair up to that and then go on to win the game.
“Obviously we want to (win) but I think we will probably learn more about them than us.
“And we’ve been on a different journey to them.
“They’re a little bit more consistent and they’ve had a little bit more time, so it’s up to us to match that.”
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