Steph Houghton says Mark Sampson saga distracted players

England captain Steph Houghton admits that the controversy surrounding former boss Mark Sampson has distracted the England Women's players.

Sampson was sacked following evidence of inappropriate behaviour in his previous role at Bristol Academy and also faced accusations of racism, bullying and harassment made by England player Eni Aluko.

Aluko will give evidence to a parliamentary select committee on Wednesday, alongside former international teammate Lianne Sanderson.

FA Chairman Greg Clarke, Chief Executive Martin Glenn and Technical Director Dan Ashworth will also go before the committee.

Sampson's dismissal came one day after leading England to a convincing 6-0 thrashing of Russia in their World Cup qualifying group.

England play their first game since Sampson's sacking on Friday in a friendly against France and Houghton admits that the scandal has affected the player's concentration.

"It has been a distraction," said Houghton. "The camp against Russia was a very tough camp for everybody, not just the players and the staff but everybody connected with the women's team.

"It's very hard to focus on the football when we don't know what's happening in the next couple of weeks."

"In terms of professionalism, I thought the girls were outstanding over the ten days. I thought we really delivered with the performance against Russia.

Mo Marley was named interim head coach to replace Sampson and the former Everton Ladies boss has called on her players to remain focused on qualifying for the World Cup.

"We're at a new stage, new beginnings and that's important that we know that so it's about us focusing on the short term, Friday, and making sure that we all pull together and keep building and working on what it is that we've set out.

"Nothing's changed about the vision. It's about World Cup qualification going from three in the world to number one."