Lauren Hemp has said England Women’s World Cup final loss to Spain in Sydney last month has only fuelled the desire to win more international silverware.
After running eventual winners Spain so close, losing out to an Olga Carmona goal, forward Hemp believes England’s “talented group” are “hungrier than ever” for success, but also admitted it’s “taken time to process” the bitter disappointment of August’s defeat.
Beyond the football, Hemp expressed her solidarity with winners Spain, after the fallout from the World Cup medal ceremony where now-disgraced former FA president Luis Rubiales kissed midfielder Jenni Hermoso, serving to overshadow the Spain teams’ on-field achievements.
Since then, thirty-nine Spanish female players – including all but two of the World Cup squad – raised further safety concerns and demanded additional federation changes, with a deal being agreed on Wednesday morning. Details of the changes are yet to be announced.
Lauren Hemp challenges Irene Paredes in August’s Women’s World Cup final
“It’ll take time to fully process the World Cup,” Hemp said in an exclusive chat with Sky Sports. “Now we’ve got a different focus, the hunger and desire in the team is higher than ever. We were gutted to lose the final, I’m proud of everything we did, but we wanted to win.
“It makes us want to be successful. This is a great group to be around. It’s exciting to be among this talented squad – we know we can win things. We want to go that extra step.”
On Spain, Hemp said: “It’s horrible to see. As a group of players, we want to show our solidarity. It’s important we stand with them, and whatever decisions the Spain players have to make.
“We’re always going to support them – it’s not fair. They don’t deserve this. They deserve to be recognised for what they did at the World Cup.
“It’s important we show our respect, things like that shouldn’t happen, and it’s important that it is recognised. We want to help the women’s game grow – this is not what you need to do that.”
The Lionesses open their group campaign in the inaugural Nations League against Scotland on Friday – via which they can secure Paris 2024 Olympics qualification for Team GB.
Daly: ‘Excessive’ fixture calendar needs a rethink
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England’s Rachel Daly says the England players are standing with their Spanish counterparts after World Cup fallout
Rachel Daly feels the calendar in the women’s game needs to be looked at, describing the amount of games as “excessive”.
England boss Sarina Wiegman last week said the matter was something she was “very worried” about as she named her squad for matches against Scotland at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light on Friday and the Netherlands in Utrecht four days later.
The Lionesses’ World Cup campaign concluded with the final on August 20, and there have been Champions League qualifying fixtures since then.
Daly told a press conference: “I do think the calendar is something that does need to be addressed moving forward.
“You’ve seen a significant amount of injuries in the past year or so, which you can only think may be a part of the calendar and the excessive amount of games we have during the season, especially the girls playing in the Champions League as well.
“I do think it needs to be looked at and addressed in the future. But as of right now, we’re not in a position to minimise game time we’ve got, so we just have to tackle it head on right now and put ourselves in the best position physically and mentally to play.
“We’ve got to get straight back into it, with our clubs, internationally, and we’re all just ready to go again and focus on the upcoming Nations League.”
