England women's head coach Mark Sampson: It's time to show how good we are

Mark Sampson wants England to shower their class in Germany

MARK SAMPSON has urged his Lionesses to prove themselves in Germany.

 

England take on the European champions this evening in a repeat of the World Cup third place play-off in Duisburg.

England won that in extra time through Fara Williams' penalty, and head coach Sampson wants another big display.

It comes ahead of England's second Euro 2017 qualifier against Bosnia on Sunday.

 

But Sampson knows tests against the likes of Germany will be more meaningful than the qualification process which kicked off with an 8-0 win over Estonia.

“We want to push ourselves and break into that top tier of world football," he said.

“To do that, we have got to go to Germany, put in a big shift and try to get a result.

“We have got to give it a good go against one of the best teams in the world in front of what will probably be a packed out stadium.”

Sampson added: “They will be dead set on revenge after what happened in the World Cup. It will be a tough ask for this team but we are excited by it.

 

“The players will maintain their fitness levels and make sure they stay sharp because they will all want to be involved in these type of games.”

England's nine centurions - Fara Williams, along with Rachel Yankey, Alex Scott, Casey Stoney, Gill Coultar, Kelly Smith, Karen Carney, Rachel Unitt and Jill Scott - will receive a special cap to mark their achievements before Sunday's game at Ashton Gate.

Sampson said: “It’s a very special thing to play for your country but to join the 100 Club is a fantastic achievement for any player.

 “It’s great to see that UEFA and the FA are recognising the nine players and on behalf of the staff and players, we’d like to say congratulations and well done to all of them.”