Exclusive: Phil Neville admits England players look 'anxious' as they battle to earn their place in World Cup squad
Phil Neville has called for his team to treat their friendly against Spain on Tuesday night like a World Cup knockout match as he admits he has noticed nerves in the final England camp ahead of squad selection for June’s tournament.
On Monday, captain Steph Houghton was ruled out for the Spain tie due to a groin injury she picked up during England's 1-0 loss to Canada last Friday, and Neville confirmed that Jill Scott would be stepping in as captain. Lucy Bronze will also miss out through illness, but Neville played down both decisions as precautionary. Goalkeeper Carly Telford will also be unavailable after sustaining a concussion in training.
This is their last camp before 23 players are finalised for England's World Cup squad and Neville said that, following the loss to Canada, he felt the need to up the ante among a noticeably anxious squad.
“It’s just what I wanted when we planned these games, I wanted to be tested and challenged. I didn’t want games where we were just going to roll over teams," the England manager said.
"What I’ve said to them is Spain is a knockout game in the World Cup and we’ve got to win to go through. That is our mindset. We’ve challenged them a lot and this is probably the last challenge before selection.
“From the minute that they met up in this camp I have noticed that they’re anxious. That’s human nature but I’ve felt a little bit sorry for them. I’ve got to say I did wake up this morning [Monday] thinking I can’t wait for this camp to be over because even though I’m enjoying it I’m not so sure the players are. You can tell them to relax and play with freedom but ultimately these players are thinking, ‘Am I going to be in the World Cup squad?’
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“But this is elite sport and elite sport is about feeling how the players have been feeling this week. It’s about performing under that pressure and expectation because if they can’t handle dealing with this then how are they going to handle playing against Scotland in that first game, the World Cup quarter-finals, semi-finals, final? This is a good test to see which players can rise to the occasion.”
Neville said he expects Spain to prove more difficult opponents than Canada, and has enlisted the help of Barcelona Femeni and England striker Toni Duggan's insider knowledge.
"We had a half an hour individual meeting with her last night, she spoke through every one of the Spanish players," he said. "Me and her did it in Spanish because we both speak Spanish, we tried to anyway. She’s given us great insight.
"They’re 13 in the world but actually they’re playing like a top 10 team. They beat Brazil [on Friday], they only just got beat by the USA, they beat the Netherlands in the Algarve Cup. This is a team that actually I think is better than Brazil and that’s similar to Japan, the style they play."
Duggan, who scored in Barcelona's win over Atletico Madrid in front of a record-breaking European domestic match crowd of 61,000 last month, said she has been enjoying a healthy rivalry with her club teammates in the build up to the friendly.
"You can expect a typical Spanish team. Wonderful in possession, attacking, very good. I think we saw that in the Euros when we last played them but we won the game and we'll win it again if possible. Hopefully we can impose our style and have a bit more possession.
"But I'm always bragging with my Spain team-mates at Barcelona saying I'll take 30 per cent possession and two goals, a win is a win. They laugh and say 'we had all the ball'. I've been bigging this game up like it's a World Cup final, they've been keeping it low-key but I'm really looking forward to it."
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