Phil Neville has said failure clouded his judgment after England’s World Cup semi-final against the USA and that he regrets calling the third-place play-off a “nonsense game”.
On the eve of Thursday’s friendly against Belgium, the manager said: “I wanted to win so badly. I think that had an effect on me personally when we went to the third- and fourth‑place play-off, because I was always brought up to believe that winning was everything and I still believe that now.
“But coming back with a win is better than a defeat. So that game is probably something I didn’t handle well. I was probably the worst out of anybody, because I was judging us against first. So on reflection, looking at the Olympics and beyond that, we want to win, but going to the Olympics and getting on that podium has to be something that we look at.”
Neville still believes the extra game should not exist. “I’ve never liked third- or fourth-place games. It was 1990 and Italy were dancing on the stage after; it wasn’t a final. I don’t like the game and neither do my players – we’ve spoken about it. We wanted to win gold. Should I have said ‘nonsense’? Probably not, but it was my feeling at the time.”
Neville’s drive to instil a winning mentality has meant that, for his players, bronze would not have been good enough, and the goalkeeper Carly Telford is open about that. “As a collective we felt we were a failure,” she said. “I think Phil was quite open about that when he responded to the bronze‑medal match.
“I don’t think he worded it correctly but I think he meant we came to win a gold medal and we didn’t and therefore anything else wasn’t going to be good enough. I think even if we had won bronze it wasn’t better than what we had done previously.”
Nonetheless Telford thinks England have progressed since their third place at the 2015 World Cup. “I’d say arguably yes, we’ve played a better style of football, we beat opposition that were good quite comfortably but when it came to those final margins and hurdles we weren’t good enough.”
For Telford the Olympics is a different story, with a medal of any colour meaning more. “As a footballer you never really think of being an Olympian because it’s not on our agenda or within our sport. But now to be classed, if you’re selected, as an Olympian is one of the greatest honours in sport and to have the opportunity to represent Great Britain and women’s sport in Tokyo would be an amazing opportunity and help keep people watching women’s football.”
With England hosting Euro 2021, they have no competitive fixtures before then. The fight for an Olympic place, though, adds much needed competitiveness to the game here and the match next Tuesday in Norway.
“For the Olympics I can only pick 18 players – and that’s not 18 England players, that’s 18 home nation players,” Neville said. “So they know they are going to have to hit certain barometers, certain testing, certain levels, to actually make an 18-player squad. So they can’t waste a minute. I’ve seen my players come back with incredible desire to do better. The hurt, the anger, they are going to use that as their fuel.”
Neville, having brought in Aoife Mannion, recalled the 170-cap Fara Williams and included the youngsters Sandy McIver and Anna Patten (with more young players also to get a chance in the next three camps), is preparing to fill the gaps in the squad made evident to him at the World Cup. “We’re building now, a 23-player squad – 18 for the Olympics – that I can trust to put on that field,” he said.
“Tournament-ready footballers, it’s really important. And I’ve got to say those characters are the ones that ultimately are more important than ones with unbelievable ability, and that’s ultimately the route we’re going to go down. I pick characters, the durable players, the ones that when the going gets tough, they get up.”
