Women’s World Cup 2019: England must overcome Scotland, Japan and plenty of travelling to triumph

Phil Neville has set the Lionesses the challenge of becoming world champions

Phil Neville attended the World Cup draw in Paris (Getty Images)

It is almost 12 months since Phil Neville made the headlines following his appointment as the Head Coach of England’s women’s team back in January, with the challenge set by the FA to move the Lionesses onto another level, and claim the country’s first senior World Cup since 1966 in France next year.

In a boarded up, almost eerie Paris on Saturday due to the government protests across the city, that challenge became all the more real as the draw for next year’s World Cup took place at the La Seine Musicale, located just a couple of miles from PSG’s Parc des Princes, with the world’s media in attendance, and the other 23 coaches joining Neville to find out who would be standing in their way on the road to victory.

Some of the women’s game’s most coveted players were in attendance to help conduct the draw, including World Cup winners Aya Miyama (Japan) and Steffi Jones (Germany), with Alex Scott on presenting duties. But Fifa is aware that there is still work to do to expand the interest in the game, and using high profile figures from the men’s game, including Kaka, Louis Saha (presenting), and France coach Didier Deschamps, will have helped raise interest in the draw.

England, seeded for the first time at a World Cup, knew that there were some potential banana skins, with pot B in particular presenting a difficult challenge with European Champions the Netherlands and 2011 World Champions, and conquerors of England in the 2015 semi-finals, Japan, both unseeded. There was also the small matter of Scotland being in pot 3, making their debut in the competition.

Ask most fans of England and Scotland, who faced each other at the European Champions in the Netherlands last year, and most expected them to be paired together again.

And they were, with the two opening Group D in Nice on 9 June, joining Japan and Argentina, with the latter participating in their first World Cup since 2007.

England could have had a more straightforward route to the knockout stages, but as the top seeded team in the group, they should feel confident of progressing. One hurdle they will have to overcome, though, is a frustrating travel schedule that will see them go from Nice in the south, to Le Havre in the north, back to Nice for their three group fixtures.

Naturally, the major talking point was the opening fixture against Scotland, and having never played at a World Cup himself, Neville was keen to highlight its importance, but was keen not to take attention away from the other fixtures.

“We’re playing against a side in Japan that will be aiming to win the World Cup. The Argentina game has special historical meaning and Scotland will be a special occasion.

“I always dreamt about going to a World Cup and you want the biggest and best occasions, and that game (against Scotland) will be a special occasion against our nearest rivals.”

England achieved their best ever finish at a World Cup in 2015 when they won a bronze medal in Canada.

England Women's manager Phil Neville on the touchline (Reuters)

The significance of that third place finish was much wider than just the medal around the players’ necks, with the achievement resulting in increased investment in the women’s game and a growing interest from the public.

The Netherlands victory at the European Championships last year gave insight into what success can achieve for a country who have never won a major tournament, with a number of their players now household names in their home country, and stadiums regularly selling out for national team fixtures.

Triumph for England could produce a similar result, and while bronze was a landmark moment for the Lionesses three and a half years ago, Neville stated that that wouldn’t be enough in France next year.

“If I stood here now and said we want to go to the World Cup in France and win a bronze medal, I think I would probably have 26, 28 players all texting me saying ‘you’re not the right manager for us to manage’, because my players are ambitious and they want to be pushed and challenged, they want to try and win a World Cup, and that’s what I was brought in to try and do.

“I think if you go into a competition wanting bronze, silver or below gold, I think you’re going into it with the wrong mentality, particularly if you’re the third, fourth best team in the world like we are.”

Scotland will face a very different challenge to England being that this is their first World Cup following an agonising near miss in qualifying for Canada 2015.

Head Coach Shelley Kerr, who has made an immediate impression since taking on the role last year, replacing Swedish coach Anna Signeul, was quick to stress how tough the group was, but how much she was looking forward to testing herself against three very different teams.

“It's a very, very tough first game (against England), and a very tough second game (against Japan),” she said. “When you're a manager you want to compete on the world stage - that's what football's all about. We've got to a World Cup finals for the first time so we've got to embrace it.

“The players have got a lot of resilience and want to test themselves on the world stage.”

England Fixtures

9 June – Scotland (Nice)

14 June – Argentina (Le Havre)

19 June – Japan (Nice)

Scotland Fixtures

9 June – England (Nice)

14 June – Japan (Rennes)

19 June – Argentina (Paris)