Kerri Welsh: 'I'm proud to be leading these players'

Kerri, your squad’s announced….how was that? It’s always tough to narrow it down, but are you pleased with your group?

“Yes. I feel really confident that we're taking the best players that are available to us at this moment in time. We've looked at a lot of players across the season, so I think we’ve put ourselves in a good place to really understand the talent within this age group and put us in the best place possible to select a strong playing group to go.”

The team did really well throughout the qualifying stages, so everyone must be looking forward to the tournament now?

“100 per cent. The anticipation has just built since we qualified and we're excited now that we're a few days away and we can finally get out on the pitch. We can’t wait to get the first training session underway, and really start to prepare for our first game with Northern Ireland.”

For the WU17s, this is the first taste of a major UEFA tournament finals. It should be a great experience on their development pathway?

“I think firstly, you can’t underestimate how difficult it is to qualify for a finals and get out of the second qualifying round stage as there's only one team out of the four that qualifies. To do that, having won all six games, is a stat that we're really happy to be taking into finals, being the only team to have done that.

“But the experience that this group of players is now going to get across, hopefully, an 18-day period is going to be invaluable for them, whether that's to take forward in their England careers or take forward into their club careers. It's something that hopefully they create memories that can last them forever, and hopefully we have success from an on-pitch perspective as well.”

We often hear some of the senior players still talking about tournaments that they've played together at in the development teams, and with the pathway as it has been in the last couple of years, there’s a clear progression to what’s hopefully the first step of a good pathway for the girls?

“Yes, like you said, the senior girls now that have just won back-to-back EUROs are still talking about their experiences at a W17s or WU20 tournament. And again, we shouldn't underestimate how difficult it is to be a part of that. This is their first step into tournament football, being a part of an England team and that's something that I'm really grateful to be a part of and lead. The players are super excited to be a part of it as well and they’re ready to go and ultimately now, we just need to be able to do what we've been really good at all season and perform under the highest pressure."

It’s a big game to start with, against the host nation in the first match of the tournament…

“It's exciting. It's a game that we want to be a part of and it's great that it's the opening game of the tournament. I actually think it's going to be an exciting occasion to be a part of. There is hopefully going to be a number of people watching the game live back at home as well, and when we speak about experiences, it's going to be something that the players are certainly going to remember and hopefully we can perform on the day.

“The first game of any tournament is really important and we're not taking that for granted in any form. It is their first ever EURO championships, so I would like to think that the pressure is on them as well. We just need to focus on ourselves and what we're good at, and we'll prepare the players as best as we can so ultimately we're ready to go out and put on a performance and hopefully get a positive result that sets us up nicely going into the last two games."

It’s Germany and Norway to follow after that, how do you approach those fixtures?

“All three games are going to provide us with a different challenge. All three teams play a very different style of football, they’ve all got different strengths and they've all got different weaknesses at the same time which lends itself towards us being able to utilise our strengths. We're confident and we believe in ourselves around what we're really good at and the performances that we've demonstrated all season. But these are three games that we're really looking forward to, three tough tests, and that's exactly what you want. There's only eight teams that are in the finals for a reason. Ultimately, we have a job to do and we'll be preparing for all three games in exactly the same way.”

Looking back at your season, you obviously joined as head coach late last year, but it must be great to end your first campaign with a EURO finals appearance?

“For sure. To qualify for a EURO Finals tournament in your first shot at it as head coach is obviously a special moment for me. It’s something that I definitely won't be taking for granted. I'm super excited to be at my first finals and super excited to be leading a talented and special group of players and staff in what will be some of their first experience of this as well. I'm happy to be at a finals and proud to be leading this group. But this isn't about me. It's about a group of players that ultimately are the top talent within this age group in the country. I have full belief in them to be able to go and perform in an England shirt and have success at the tournament.”

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