Fran Kirby says England will embrace pressure ahead of UEFA Women's Euro 2017
Tuesday 3 January 2017 16:55, UK
England are relishing the pressure of expectation ahead of the European Championships and will give it their all to win this summer’s tournament in the Netherlands, striker Fran Kirby says.
Kirby was dubbed the 'Mini Messi' by boss Mark Sampson after scoring against Mexico at the 2015 Women's World Cup, before England went on to beat Germany and secure an historic third-place tournament finish.
The Reading academy graduate earned a move to Chelsea following her heroics in Canada and accepts winning World Cup bronze - and becoming the most successful senior England side to travel to a tournament overseas - raises expectations.
"I think for us our aim is to go there [to the Euros] and win it," Kirby told Tuesday's Sportswomen show on Sky Sports News HQ.
"We're coming off a really good World Cup campaign and after beating Germany for the first time and getting third we need to make sure we go there and play the best we can.
"I think the expectation on us is a lot higher [because] the publicity at the World Cup was incredible. We'll have a lot more attention on us and that adds pressure on us but I think it is pressure that we can deal with.
"We won under pressure at the World Cup when we beat Germany. Everyone's so excited to get going and everyone just wants to carry on the momentum and the buzz from the World Cup.
"There will always be pressure, but that's football, isn't it? Every game - whether it's playing for your country, playing for your club or even if you're a kid just going down to the park - you want to win. I think everybody is just more excited to deal with the pressure when it comes.
"We need to make sure we're prepared and our obviously the aim for us now is to go there and try to win the tournament."
Kirby is still working her way back to full fitness after suffering a leg injury midway through last season and her participation in England's training camp in La Manga later this month remains in doubt.
The Lionesses play friendly matches against Sweden and Norway during their training camp and Kirby could potentially line up against new Chelsea signing and Norway captain Maren Mjelde as well as team-mate and Sweden goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl.
"We played Norway at the World Cup and they gave us a really tough game," Kirby added.
"Sweden have always been really difficult to play against so I think for us they are two really good games and I think we have a few more friendlies at home coming up that are being finalised at the moment.
"Playing against the likes of Hedvig and Maren is exciting. It will be competitive and playing against team-mates is also a bit of fun as well."
