Karen Bardsley: England Women can take on the world’s best and win – including Spain 

Former Lionesses goalkeeper Karen Bardsley has told us that she is backing England Women to see off Spain 2-0 in Wednesday’s crunch Euro 2022 quarter-final and believes they are capable of going all the way in the tournament. 

England legend Bardsley won 82 caps over a 17-year spell for the nation before retiring this year, and was part of the Lionneses squad that reached the semi-finals of the last European Championship in 2017.

“England can go one step further this time (and win it),” Bardsley told William Hill’s Café ROAR. “I genuinely do believe that, it’s not just me being biased. I am so proud of these girls and so enamoured with the way they are playing at the minute, I am just absolutely enjoying it.

“I genuinely feel that the way they are performing, the way their body language is, the way that everything is coming out of the camp – they are together, they are positive – and I do think there is a genuine belief there. There has been in the past but maybe not to this extent. I really do feel like they can take on the world’s best and win. I’m going for a 2-0 win to England against Spain.”

England have impressed with their performances in the tournament so far, winning three out of three while scoring 14 goals without conceding, and Bardsley is expecting more of the same from the Lionesses in terms of their style of play.

“I don’t think England’s gameplan is going to change a whole lot against Spain,” she said. “I think they’ll want to keep the ball speed up and move Spain as quickly as possible to try and expose either the opposite flank or the space in behind, because we’ve seen that Spain are really, really vulnerable on the transition. So we might see a bit more direct play from England than we have been.

“We’ve got threats, not just from wide spaces, but getting Keira Walsh on the ball, getting Millie Bright to hit some lovely diagonal balls… I think we’ll probably see more of that and I think we’ll see a lot more wide deliveries and early deliveries from the flanks as well. Lucy Bronze has been hitting some lovely balls in, and Beth Mead and Lauren Hemp are very good at hitting those wide balls in as well.

“I’d like to see a continuation of what England did so well against Norway with the first and second balls and really dominating the possession.”

Bardsley has credited much of England’s success so far in the tournament to manager Sarina Wiegman, who took charge of the national side last year.

“Off the pitch it’s a level of communication and structure (that she’s brought to the team),” Bardsley said. “She’s been referring to this ‘plan’, this strategy since she took her position. I haven’t obviously been in the camp but I don’t think there’s been much deviation from it. Everything she does has a purpose and she’s incorporated every single person – players, staff – in that purpose.

“She’s outlined what your task is, how you do it, what the expectations are and I don’t think we’ve ever had anything that clear in the squad before. She’s got them so focused that the process is what they’re focusing on – the team is the most important thing. She’s got them so well focused on that specific point.”