Excitement building on Yorkshire Coast for women's World Cup final

England face Spain on Sunday

Author: Karen LiuPublished 18th Aug 2023

It is hoped people on the Yorkshire Coast will be glued to TV screens to watch England in the Women's World Cup.

The Lionesses are in the final of the competition where they will play Spain on Sunday.

Matt Hewison is a sports development manager at North Yorkshire Council based in Scarborough.

He said: "It's an amazing achievement to reach the final for the first time and I suppose it's building on the momentum they've gained over the last three or four years with winning the Euros, the good group of players they've got and an excellent coach in Sarina, but I suppose from their point of view the next thing to do is to go and win it.

"Being an England football supporter, I think we all have certain expectations and usually with the men's team it's quarter-finals, semi-finals, or penalties. I suppose with this group of women's players, it was more than that this time because of what they've achieved, their record and the good group of quality players that they've got.

"When you think what they've overcome to get the final, they've lost some really good, quality players from the squad; our own Beth Mead's not there, Leah Williamson, Fran Kirby and I think that shows the testament to the spirit that they have. They've got that togetherness, that drive and determination.

"England have just got a really good group of talented players but obviously that doesn't always bring you success. It relies so much on having good coaching and background staff. I think it's a lot of factors that have brought them to this stage but ultimately, I just think they're a very good group of talented footballers.

"I don't think we've had this from the women's team before. They've always been in the mix of better teams around them whether it's the Americans, the Dutch or the Norwegians. I think with what's happened over the last four or five years, England are right up there as one of the best teams in the world.

"Just going on when they played Spain in the Euros last year, Spain are a very good technical team with very good players, but I think I'm going to go for England to win 2-1."

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