Thursday 18 June 2015 12:52, UK
Mark Sampson insists England are a match for anyone after watching his side reach the knock-out stages of the Women’s World Cup.
England beat Colombia 2-1 in Montreal to claim their second win on the bounce following their opening defeat to France.
Sampson’s side finished second in Group F and will now play Norway in Ottawa on Monday for a place in the quarter-finals.
“We’ve got to praise the players. We have got two wins under our belt and qualified from the group so the players can be very proud of that achievement,” said Sampson on the FA’s website.
“But we are not putting a full stop there. These players are very ambitious, very determined and they want to go as far as they possibly can in this tournament.
“We really believe that when we are at our best we can beat anyone. That gives us an opportunity to go a long way.
“We are going to recover, get ourselves right for a big Norwegian challenge and I’m confident we can keep building momentum.”
Sampson is expecting a tough match against Norway, who are ranked five places below England at 11th in the world.
This England team is playing well at the moment and we feel that we’ve got a lot of weapons we can use to hurt Norway.
“We are going to face a really good Norwegian side. They have drawn with the best team in the tournament in Germany.
“Physically they will be a very difficult challenge for us. They have got a variety of styles. They defend in a deep block, they can be aggressive and they have got some good individual qualities.
“But this England team is playing well at the moment and we feel that we’ve got a lot of weapons we can use to hurt Norway.
“We are going to go into that game confident and looking to be positive.
“It’s about us producing a complete performance when we play that calibre of opponent and seeing where it takes us.”
