Exclusive: "It's about making the nation proud" says Ella Toone ahead of World Cup
England's Ella Toone looks ahead to a stellar year of international football including the FIFA Women's World Cup
The 2023 FIFA World Cup is this summer in Australia and New Zealand and all roads lead down under.
England will be one of the tournament favourites after the highly successful 2022 they had, and the European Champions have every right to be. Under head Coach Sarina Wiegman the Lionesses have been unstoppable and are most certainly one of the teams to look out for in the summer.
England finished their qualification for the 2023 FIFA World Cup with 10 wins from 10 and a phenomenal goal difference of +80.
Midfielder Ella Toone was one of the standout stars of last summer's Euros in England, scoring that audacious chip in the final at Wembley Stadium. Toone believes that ‘to be the best you have to beat the best’, stating, "it is really exciting. We know we need to test ourselves against the best teams and really prepare properly for the World Cup.”
It is fair to say that the Lionesses are ready to roar and go again as they prepare for their summer World Cup adventure with the Arnold Clark Cup next month and Finalissima in April. Toone is excited for a new year of international football, commenting on her upcoming fixture list, "we are really looking forward to it. 2022 was a great year for the Lionesses being unbeaten and winning the Euros but we just want to keep progressing and keep beating teams and hopefully go unbeaten again."
It won't be easy this summer, but the Manchester United playmaker is confident with the group that England have drawn. The Lionesses will come up against Denmark, China, and either Senegal, Haiti or Chile.
Toone notes that keeping their feet on the ground and not getting ahead of themselves is the best game plan to adopt, saying, "obviously we will take each game as it comes. We know how well we did in the Euros, but it is a different ball game, it is a different tournament.”
"I think as a team it's about making the nation proud, stepping out for our country and enjoying ourselves and hopefully we will get as far as we can."
It is going to be another amazing summer of women's football that we are all going to enjoy. It will be interesting to see how far the Lionesses of England can go this time around in a FIFA Women's World Cup having placed both third fourth in 2015 and 2019 respectively.
The FIFA Women’s World Cup begins on Thursday 20th July when host nation New Zealand will take on Norway and fellow hosts Australia will face off against Republic of Ireland. England will kick off their tournament on Saturday 22nd July at the Brisbane Stadium.