Rachel Daly defends England’s World Cup preparations after early arrivals

Rachel Daly has defended England’s long and controversial buildup to the Women’s World Cup, describing the squad coming together more than a month before their opening match as “perfect”.

The Lionesses arrived at their St George’s Park base on Monday and had their first training session on Tuesday in preparation for a warm-up game against Portugal in Milton Keynes on 1 July. Players and staff fly to a training camp on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast on 5 July in advance of facing Haiti in Brisbane on 22 July. That means they will have been together for a somewhat remarkable 33 days before kicking their first competitive ball in anger in Australia – something that has caused outrage among Women’s Super League clubs, who feel their England players were bullied into accepting the 19 June meet-up date by the Football Association.

Daly has insisted that was not the case, stating that every member of the squad was more than happy to join up when requested to do so by the FA, having had more than three weeks off after the WSL season. “For me it’s perfect, and the girls agreed on that,” the 31-year-old said. “We’ve had enough time to have a rest and have a holiday, completely switch off mentally and physically.

“It’s scientifically proven; it’s not just picking a date and all of us joining up. This date has been planned since the Euros, I’m sure, by the backroom staff in regards to the physical side of things. I feel like we’re in a great spot.”

All 23 members of Sarina Wiegman’s squad, and the three reserves, are at St George’s Park, with only the stand-in captain Millie Bright and Jordan Nobbs missing training. Both underwent individual programmes as they continue their recovery from knee surgery and a minor injury respectively.

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