England too focused to absorb excitement surrounding Euros campaign – Mary Earps

Mary Earps insists she has “no doubt” that the country is behind England, despite admitting that the Lionesses have been exposed to little of the fervour surrounding their progress at Euro 2022.

Ahead of their concluding Group A fixture against Northern Ireland in Southampton on Friday, Sarina Wiegman’s side have already qualified for the quarter-finals after pulling off the competition’s biggest ever win with their historic 8-0 thrashing of Norway on Monday.

Northern Ireland, meanwhile, are out of their first major tournament after successive 4-1 and 2-0 defeats to Norway and Austria respectively but will be playing for pride against the host nation.

England goalkeeper Earps has not conceded a goal in England’s two matches so far but says it is only around the grounds that the team have witnessed the excitement generated by their bid for European glory.

“Knowing English people I have absolutely no doubt that the country is behind us,” Earps said.

“It’s not something that us as players have really engaged with too much because, to be honest, we’re so focused in our bubble that it’s not something we’re hearing and feeling too much – apart from when we come into the stadium and hear the roars from the crowd, which has obviously been fantastic.

“To be honest, for the first time we’ve really witnessed that in terms of… playing major tournaments away from home you don’t realise how much that can be so much fun and drive you forwards in terms of your engagement in the game and really striving to such a high level of performance and excellence.

“You feel a real responsibility because you want to do that – not only for your team-mates but for the people coming to watch of course.

“But it’s not something that we’re engaging with